Operation: Forgiving Phoebe Grey
by las96
Summary: 3 years after last seeing each other, Phoebe and Blaine must put aside their differences and move past the love of a life time
1. Chapter 1

**Blaine's POV:**

From across the room I watched Phoebe enter with some guy by her side. He was tall, had brownish almost black hair, and brown eyes. The two of them looked like a power couple as they walked in holding hands. I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't break at the sight of her with another man. Truth be told, I never got over Phoebe. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself to move on, I couldn't. She was the love of my life and I wanted to be that guy on her arm more than anything. I wanted to be the first and last thing she saw every day. I wanted to make her life in that adorable way that she has where she covers her mouth with her hand in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. I wanted to be her world just as much as she was mine. But she would never be that again.

Caden tugged on my wrist as he tried to get my attention. Heather had dressed him up in a black, miniature suit with shiny black dress shoes and an electric blue bow tie. My son looked adorable, he was a heartbreaker. His curly black hair, much like mine, was recently cut to try and tame it. The kid had a lot of hair for a two almost three year old.

"Cake daddy, cake," he pointed to the dessert table.

I leaned down to pick him up, "We have to eat dinner first and then we can have cake. Where's mommy?"

Heather and I weren't together but I asked her to be my date for Darcy and Charlie's wedding. We were good friends, we had a child together. The real reason for why I asked her to come with me was because Phoebe was going to be here. I wanted to crush her heart just as much as she crushed mine. Bitter? Yes.

"Mommy is right here," Heather said.

She looked beautiful in a champagne colored floor length gown. Her blonde hair was cut to her shoulders and let loose with curls. Heather had a little makeup on but not as overly done as she used to wear it. She grew up a lot in the past two years. I was proud to be in her life.

"So, who is Phoebe with?" Heather smirked.

She knew that I still loved Phoebe and understood that nothing would ever happen with us. We had a child together, that was it.

"I don't know," I glanced over at Phoebe again.

She was hugging Darcy and Charlie. Her date stood faithfully by her side in a very nice, very expensive suit. His brown eyes landed on mine. If he knew who I was, he did not show it. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Phoebe's shoulder. She looked up and smiled at him.

"Are you going to talk with her or are you going to just keep staring at them?"

Caden was fussing in my arms, I set him down on the ground and he ran off. Man that kid had a lot of energy.

"I'll say hi, eventually."

I could not be in the same room as her, let alone talk to her. Phoebe looked beautiful in a tight, black, sparkly, dress that skimmed above her knees and brought attention to her butt and chest. Just thinking about getting her out of that dress made me have to rearrange myself in my pants.

"Go over there," Heather pushed me, "You obviously want to."

"It's complicated."

She gave me a "yeah right" look.

"Well it already looks like Caden beat you to it."

Sure enough, Caden was giggling in Charlie's arms. Charlie and Darcy were Caden's godparents. I could not think of anyone better and Heather really didn't have that many friends.

"Now you're forced to go and talk to her," Heather chided, "Don't look now but they're looking at you."

I of course looked over. Phoebe's beautiful grey eyes were trained on me. Charlie waved me over.

"Don't be a pussy, go over there," Heather pushed me.

It was hard not to stare at Phoebe as I made my way over to them. Darcy, Charlie, and Phoebe were watching me as I walked. Caden ran over to me, I picked him up for protection.

"We were just telling Phoebe that since she's the maid of honor and you're the best man, you two should go out tomorrow and finalize the plans," Darcy grinned wickedly.

Did I mention how much I hated her? From the look on Phoebe's face, she was not too keen on the idea either.

"Sure," I nodded, "If you aren't busy."

"Damien and I were planning on visiting my parents for dinner. So it'll have to be breakfast or lunch," Phoebe said.

At the sound of his name, Damien held out his hand to me, "Damien, Phoebe's fiancé."

Fiancé? Phoebe paled when he said that. I did not know that she was engaged, it was not like anyone would tell me if she was. After she left, it was a rough time for me to fully grasp that she was not coming back. The dozen of unanswered voicemails and text messages were not enough.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Blaine," I tried to keep my composure, "How 'bout brunch then? I can pick you up or we can meet there."

"Damien has business in the city so he can drop me off."

"I could do that," Damien looked down at his phone as it rung in his hand, "Sorry, I have to take this. Nice to meet you Blake."

He excused himself from the group and headed out towards the exit. Phoebe refused eye contact with me, Darcy looked at me pityingly, and Charlie looked uncomfortable.

"Dadda cake," Caden begged.

"After dinner," I told him.

"Dadda cake! Cake!"

"I'll take him to go get some," Heather appeared.

Phoebe visibly tensed at the sight of Heather.

"I need to go say hello to your father, excuse me," Phoebe walked away.

Heather walked away with Caden to the dessert table. Darcy hit me in the back of my head.

"What was that for?" I rubbed where she hit me.

"You idiot! You see Phoebe for the first time in two years and you have nothing to say? You're supposed to be trying to win her back!"

"Win her back? If you haven't noticed, she has a fiancé," I said, "Besides, who says I want to get back together with her?"

"One, Damien has nothing on you, two, you were eying Phoebe like a piece of meat, three, you haven't dated much less slept with someone in two years... Do I need to go on?"

"I've slept with other girls," I lied.

Charlie scoffed but tried to cover it with a cough.

"No you haven't, Charlie would've told me," Darcy glared, "You can try and pretend that you don't have feelings still but I see the way you look at each other."

"It won't work," I shook my head, "Plus, she lives in England."

"How do you know she lives in England?" Darcy smirked.

Shit.

"I'll go and see if Heather needs help."

 **Phoebe's POV:**

I knew what Darcy was trying to do when she forced Blaine and me to have brunch together tomorrow. Even though I knew Blaine was going to be Charlie's best man, I did not expect to see him so soon. Damien knew everything and tried to assure me that I was only imagining the worst that could happen. He did not consider Blaine a threat anymore, especially now that we were engaged. I had not wanted to make a big deal about it until after Darcy's wedding but I was forced the face the reality when Damien brought it up with Blaine.

After saying hello to Darcy's father I found Damien in the club's conference room in yelling match with someone on the other line. It was undoubtedly business, he was a workaholic, something that annoyed the shit out of me. We were only young once but Damien did not see it that way, he wanted to please his father by making the most money for the company as possible.

"Get off that phone right now!"

He gave me a sheepish grin, "The fiancée is yelling at me, we'll finish this conversation tomorrow at the meeting."

Pleased that he hung up, I gave him a kiss, "Much better, there are still some people who I want you to meet."

"So that was the infamous Blaine, huh?"

"He's just Blaine, I don't know about infamous."

"He was a major part of your life."

"Yes but that was before I met you," I breathed in his smell, "Do I have to reassure you again or was this morning in the bedroom enough?"

Sex with Damien was great, beyond great and I loved him but seeing Blaine again was different. The teenage girl in me still got excited to see him while the older woman in me thought that I should move on, he obviously had.

"I might need a quickie in the conference room," Damien brought me against his growing erection, "Just to make sure that we're on the same page."

A knock on the door interrupted us from going any further. Darcy stuck her head in. I knew that she did not like Damien but she put on a good act.

"Your parents just arrived."

Great.


	2. Chapter 2

**Phoebe's POV:**

Damien's hand rested on the small of my back, lightly tracing the exposed skin. I knew he wanted to finish in the conference room and if it were not for the arrival of my parents, we would have. My parents were talking with Darcy's father and smiled once they spotted me. Teddy thankfully was not coming, he was still in New York with Gwen. Teddy's reaction to what happened between me and Blaine was to be expected and I had to threaten to never speak to him again if he contacted Blaine. Whether or not he listened was a different story.

"What're the odds of your parents letting us stay in a hotel so I can fuck your brains out tonight without worrying about noise?"

"Very slim."

Even after all this time, I could tell that my father was not that fond of Damien. In Damien's defense, he had tried everything to make my father open up and like him more but my father was still Team Blaine. My mother on the other hand loved Damien and treated him better than I had ever seen her treat Blaine. When I told them that Damien wanted to rent a hotel in the city, they immediately became defensive.

"Mom, dad," I gave them both a kiss.

"That dress looks stunning on you," my mother held my hand, "Where's your ring?"

"It's Darcy's day," I took my hand away, "Besides, we're keeping it low key remember?"

Dating Damien made me even more of a celebrity and more present in the media. Our every move was stalked by the paparazzi to the point where I hated going out anymore without a body guard. There was an incident where a paparazzi became obsessed with me in London prompting me and Damien to move back to the states. The move was also on the down low.

"It doesn't have anything with Blaine being here does it?"

"Leave it alone Ana," my father muttered.

I gave him a thankful smile.

"Mrs. Grey, you look as great as ever," Damien kissed my mother on the cheek, "I can only hope Phoebe inherits your genetics."

"Charming as ever Damien. How's your father?"

"He's coming to town tomorrow and would love it if we all went out for dinner."

"That sounds great, doesn't it Christian?"

My father put on his fake smile, "Great, if you'll excuse me I need to find the bar."

"Not too much dear," my mother warned.

I followed my father to the bar, leaving the group.

"Would it kill you to put a little more effort in pretending to like Damien?"

"Yes, yes it would."

Rolling my eyes, I decided that it was not worth another argument with my father. Regardless of how many times that I tried to get my father to bond with Damien, I only failed and caused them to drift apart.

"Scotch for me and Shirley Temple for my daughter."

"Whiskey sour please," I ignored my father, "If I'm going to have to be near you and Damien all night I need a little alcohol in my system."

It was my father's turn to roll his eyes, "He tries too hard to get me to like him. He's like a puppy wanting attention half the time."

"He idolizes you that's why, give him a chance."

"Have you seen Blaine?"

So that was what this was about, "Yes, we have to go and have lunch together tomorrow to go over plans."

"That should be great. I'm glad that the two of you are finally talking again."

"I guess."

I saw Caden run around the room and smiled. I could never hate a child, especially one as cute as Caden. It was not his fault that Blaine did not know how to wrap it before he tapped it. Caden found Charlie and Blaine near one of the tables and jumped into Blaine's arms.

"He's a cute kid," my father followed my line of vision, "Bright too. I talked to him earlier."

"He's almost three, how bright can he be?"

"Exceptionally bright. He's going to go places."

"With Blaine as his father, he can go wherever."

We were interrupted by the announcing of dinner. As part of the bridal party, I had to sit at the table with everyone else. I kissed Damien before leaving him to move to the front of the room. Darcy had enlisted my help when it came to seating arrangements so I sat down right where I knew where I had been placed.

"Is this seat taken?"

I looked up to find Blaine staring down at me and froze. The seating chart had him on the other side of the table and not even near me, someone switched the seating chart.

"You're actually on the other side."

Blaine pointed at his card, "Not what the card says."

He sat down ignoring that I obviously did not want him next to me.

"Damien seems nice."

"He is."

"Does he know about us?"

"Of course he does, there was no need to lie. Not all of us have an impulse to hide things from people they love."

"Don't start Pheebs."

Just hearing him call me that made my heart flutter, "I'm going to go find Darcy."

 **Blaine's POV:**

I watched Phoebe walk away and sighed, this was not how I envisioned our reunion to go. Charlie had warned me that it was not how I wanted it to be but it did not prevent me from being optimistic. Sean sat down beside me and patted my back.

"You'll make it through tonight," he reassured me, "And if you don't, just get drunk."

"I'm a father, I can't get drunk whenever I feel like it now."

It was true, I tried my hardest to stay away from drinking now that Caden was in my life. Staying sober after Phoebe left was the hardest but I managed to do it.

"Well watch me get drunk."

I was glad Sean was here, even though he was not with Georgia anymore. They ended their relationship shortly before the wedding. We were both on the same sad and lonely boat.

Phoebe returned with Darcy and Charlie and I could tell she was pointedly ignoring me. Sitting at the table this close to Phoebe made me nervous. I did not know how to act this close to her. She smelled the same, it was the same shampoo that she had been using since high school. Every movement that she made I was aware of.

"You're being creepy," Sean muttered.

I tried to focus on other conversations but I could not, all I wanted to do was talk to Phoebe. Explain everything to her again in hopes that we could connect.

"Let's play a drinking game," one of Darcy's bridesmaids suggested.

"We haven't even had dinner yet Veronica," Phoebe intercepted.

"When did you become a bore?" I challenged.

Knowing that the Phoebe that I knew would never back aware from proving someone wrong, I waited for her to take the bait.

"Come on kid," Charlie joined in.

She shook her head, "If I end up puking, you have to explain to my parents."

The drinking game helped everyone relax, especially Phoebe. She was not so tense around me anymore which is good. I paced myself knowing that I could not be drunk near Phoebe; too many raw emotions still. Phoebe on the other hand was beyond tipsy.

"Maybe you should slow down," I tried to take her glass away from her.

"Don't start pretending that you care about me now O'Reilly."

"Are we really going to do this now?"

Phoebe's posture changed, the old Phoebe that I knew and loved returned, "Do what?"

"Never mind, do what you want."

"I will."

I did not want to sound conceited but she was doing this because of me; we both knew it. She was not my problem anymore, she had Damien. I looked over to where he was sitting and even though he was talking to Mrs. Grey, his eyes were trained on us.

"Let's go get some air," I offered.

"I'm fine."

"Some air would do you some good Pheebs," Darcy agreed.

Phoebe stood up wobbly and used my arm for support, "Alright, alright."

Her touch felt great and at that moment, I was not paying attention to anyone in the room. I led Phoebe to the club's patio area to get some air. She shivered when the breeze hit us.

"Here," I wrapped my coat around her.

"I'm fine," she repeated.

"Just take the jacket and stop being hardheaded."

"Why can't you just leave me alone? I've been doing great without you!"

"I just don't want you to get cold."

She shook her head, "You know that's not what I meant. I'm with Damien, I love Damien. He's a great guy who loves and worships me but then there's you. You're my best friend and always will be."

"I can't talk to you when you're like this."

"So you'll sleep with Heather when she's drunk but you won't talk to me when I'm drunk?" Phoebe laughed, "Wow."

"It was different with her! You can't even compare the two of you. She's not you and she never will be."

"Fooled me. I can see how happy your little family is."

"I love my son more than anything and Heather gave me Caden so I love her for that but I don't feel for her the same way I feel about you. No other girl can compare to you, you have to know that."

Phoebe stood quietly for a moment, "We should go back inside, it's Darcy and Charlie's night."

"I want to talk about this!"

"Your three years too late, I'm with Damien now and we're getting married," Phoebe took off my jacket, "I'll see you inside."

"Talk to me," I grabbed her arm.

"If you had any sense you'd take your hands off of my fiancée," Damien's angry face appeared.

I released her.

"Are you alright?" Damien wiped Phoebe's tears away.

She nodded, "I just drank a little too much. I'm sorry for worrying you."

He kissed her forehead and I wanted to punch him in his face.

"Come on, let's go back inside."

Phoebe did not even turn to look back at me.


	3. Chapter 3

**For those we are worried that I'm going to leave again without notice, I understand. I can't promise that I'll update everyday but I am happy with the responses that I've been getting and I'm in a better place than I've been in a while; so I hope to keep writing.**

* * *

 **Phoebe's POV:**

I rolled over to see Damien typing away on his laptop. He was in business mode, his eyes were concentrated on the screen and nothing else. I snuggled closer to him and sighed.

"Did I wake you?"

"No," I kissed his arm, "I wish you had though. We need to talk about last night."

I should not have left with Blaine. I was an idiot to think that he and I could be civil towards one another.

"I get it. If I were to see Lisa again, I'd want to air out any hard feelings. You're a catch Phoebe Grey, Blaine isn't going to just let you go."

"I shouldn't have left, I'm sorry."

"I told you last night, I forgive you. There was nothing to apologize for," Damien shut his laptop, "I love you."

"I love you so much," I brought him down to me, "You're my everything."

And I was being truthful. I loved being with Damien, despite his workaholic tendencies. He was attentive, funny, smart, and good looking. To me, he was perfect.

Batman jumped on the bed and licked my face.

"I'm getting cock blocked by a dog," Damien tried to push Batman away.

"No, you're getting cockblocked by Christian Grey," my father appeared in front of my door, "Don't you have a brunch to be getting to?"

He left the door wide open before heading downstairs.

"This is why I wanted a hotel," Damien muttered into my hair.

"I heard that!"

There was no way my father heard that.

"These walls have ears," Damien whispered even quieter, "How is that possible?"

"He's just messing with you," I ran my fingers through Damien's bedhead, "I'll see if my mom can settle him down so he'll leave us alone."

"Good, I miss being inside my fiancée. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go jackoff in the shower."

"Don't you dare! Someone has to clean in there."

"I have to do something or else I'm going to explode in my meeting. How am I going to talk about corporate finances when I'm thinking of being inside you?"

He had a point.

"Give me ten minutes and I'll meet you in the bathroom."

Damien's eyes lit up, "I fall more in love with you everyday."

The same went for me. After realizing that I would never get back with Blaine and allowed myself to give Damien a chance, I fell hard for him. Harder than I even fell for Blaine which was saying something.

"Stick with me and you'll learn to have fun," I winked before following my father downstairs.

My father sat at the kitchen island reading his tablet. My mother was either sleeping or at work, this would make things more difficult.

"Damien still here?"

"Ha. Dad, part of staying here with you guys was the agreement that I would be treated like an adult. It's just as easy for us to stay at a hotel while we're here. I can't keep playing referee between you guys. How is it that you can still be Team Blaine after all of this?"

"Who says that I'm Team Blaine? I'm Team Phoebe and I can see that this guy isn't right for you."

"Here we go again. Damien treats me better than any of the guys I've ever dated. I know that you've had him followed and there must not be anything to report or else I would have heard about it by now. Leave it alone or else I don't know that we can stay here where we're being watched and there's nothing else I can do to make you like him."

My father shook his head, "I don't have to like him."

"Yes you do because you're my father and I love him. I want you at least like the guy that I'm going to be married to. What are you going to do when we have kids? Are you going to like only half of your grandchild?"

"Child?" my father's eyes shifted to my stomach, "You aren't pregnant are you?"

"Would it be so bad if I were?"

He stood up, "Yes because he isn't the guy for you!"

"If this is how you're going to be then fine, we'll find someplace else to stay."

"Fine then!"

My father was being unfair and he knew it. Making me choose between the two of them was childish on his part and if he had not learned from the past, I was more than capable of keeping my word and staying away. Damien was out of the shower and from the look on his face, he heard what happened downstairs.

"We're leaving, get dressed," I yelled on my way to get my luggage.

"I think you're both overreacting."

"You're taking the side of the man that doesn't even want you in his house just because he's harboring a man crush on my ex-fiancé?"

Damien followed me into the closet, "I'm not taking his side but I know that he's your father and he wants what's best for you and so do I. Also, you were kidding about the pregnancy right?"

"Of course, I was drunk last night for Christ's sakes, but he doesn't need to know that. All I know is that he needs to get over what he wants and finally let me choose what I want! I'm not going to argue with him over Blaine every five seconds so until he decides to let him go, I can't be in the same house as him."

"Alright, calm down. How about you get ready for brunch and then when we come back you'll both have settled down."

I glared at Damien, "I don't need to settle down."

"Well your father does."

"You're talking bad against my father? Can I take this moment to tell you how turned on you're making me?"

Damien always wanted my father's approval but right now seeing him take a stand against him made me want to jump his bones.

"We never got to have that quickie in the shower," Damien closed the gap between us, "I wouldn't mind to practice making babies with you right now."

He fell to the floor in front of me and pulled my pajama bottoms down before slipping his tongue inside me. I grabbed onto the closest stack of clothes to capture myself before falling. Damien shoved his tongue deeper inside me and I could not hold back the gasp that crept its way up my throat.

"I want you inside me," I begged.

His tongue stopped as he pulled my down to the ground with him, "All you had to do was ask."

I giggled as Damien climbed to position himself before my entrance but stopped when I felt him enter me. I was wet but I still was able to feel a slight pain when he entered me. He paused to make sure that my groan was a sign of pleasure and not pain before continuing to move inside me. My hands forced Damien deeper inside me, something that made his strokes to go faster.

"God, I still can't believe you're mine," he breathed, "Fuck."

Our sweaty bodies meddled together as we reached our point of ecstasy, moaning each other's names. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I orgasmed, too far gone to even watch Damien come. He cleaned me up and slapped my butt as I ran to shower.

 **Blaine's POV:**

I tried not to stare as Phoebe kissed Damien goodbye. My hands unintentionally clenched at the sight of the two of them. Phoebe walked towards me with an unreadable expression. She was wearing a floral dress that fell above her knee and had heels that made her legs look longer. The Phoebe I knew did not wear floral prints because they were too girly. I stood up to pull her chair out, something I did without realizing it. She seemed shocked but held back her comment.

"Darrel didn't want to join us?"

"You know his name," Phoebe glared, "Don't try to pretend you don't. Let's just get this done without arguing, alright?"

We were in charge of putting together the joint bachelor and Bachelorette party – Darcy's idea of course. Charlie being Charlie did what she asked, mostly out of fear of what she would do to him if he refused to do what she asked.

"Alright, lemme see the list."

She became defensive, "What list?"

"I know Darcy has a list of what we can and can't have. She's bossy, so lemme see it."

Phoebe dug in her purse, "Alright, it's not that bad. She only said no strippers, no prostitutes, whores, or skanks, anything of that nature and no cheap beer."

"Seems fair but Charlie also has a list and that trumps Darcy's list."

"I think we should forget the lists and do what we want to do."

For once, we were agreeing again and it felt like old times. Something in my eyes must have given it away because Phoebe cleared her throat and refrained from looking me in the eye.

"Alright, so what's first?"

Two hours later we had planned the perfect party filled with unlimited alcohol, strippers, music, and friends. I did not want the planning to end but of course Damien had to call and say that he was on his way. The way Phoebe's face lit up when she saw his name made my heart fall.

"This wasn't too bad," I stood up, gauging Phoebe's expression.

She smiled, "No it wasn't. I had fun."

"We should do it again some time. Maybe grab a bite to eat?"

Her look said it all.

"Never mind," I did not want to be rejected, it would only make things hurt even more, "Let's leave it at this."

"I was going to say dinner would be great but Damien's dad is coming in town for dinner tonight. What about tomorrow?"

Color me shocked, "I promised Caden that I would take him to Play World. You're more than welcome to come."

"Will Heather be there?"

"She doesn't have to be."

"Alright, I'm in."


	4. Chapter 4

**Phoebe's POV:**

"How was brunch?" Damien held the car door open for me.

I was trying to figure out how to tell him about my plans tomorrow without causing an argument. I rarely felt the need to lie to him and I was not about to start. Part of getting together with him, I told him no lying and I feel as if he had kept up with that promise.

"Good. I'm actually going to Play World tomorrow with Blaine and Caden."

"I see," Damien's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Don't get mad. If you don't want me to go I won't."

"Of course I don't want you to go but I won't stop you."

We drove in silence for a while before Damien pulled over on the side of the road.

"I'm jealous, alright? Blaine is always going to be part of your life and I get that but I don't want you hanging out with him. It scares me to think that maybe you'll fall for him again and leave me. You're everything to me Phoebe, literally everything. Everything I do is because of you. I work to so that maybe you won't have to if you ever don't want to. I try to make you happy, happier than you ever were with any other guys. So tell me what to do and I'll do it so that I'll make you happy. Is it because your dad doesn't like me? I swear I'm trying but you know him, he's hard headed."

Now I felt guilty for wanting to go, "You don't think I'm happy with you?"

"You say you are but now you want to hang out with Blaine and his son. The son, by the way, that he had with a woman he knew you hated. I just don't get this hold that he has on you. I try and get it for your sake but I don't see it or understand it."

The hold that Blaine had on me was indescribable to the point that even I could not understand it. But I did not want the past to ruin my future with Damien.

"I won't go," I decided, "I wouldn't want you anywhere near Lisa."

Lisa was his crazy ex-girlfriend that always tried to contact him now that he had moved on. She was constantly sending us threats before we had her locked away after finding her in our apartment one night.

"You sure? That threesome would be crazy hot," Damien teased, "All that crazy in one bed."

"I am not crazy!" I defended myself, "But I will cut a bitch."

"Same goes for me," he kissed my cheek, "Are you ready to go home and face your father?"

My mother had already texted me saying that she had talked to him about his behavior earlier and promised that he would be on his best behavior while we were here. I did not know how she got him to agree to be nice to Damien but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I guess he's settled down since earlier."

"See, I told you. Now everything will be great for dinner tonight."

"Hopefully. Our dads get along so should help."

Our dads bonded over one thing: business. The two business masterminds loved talking about each other's companies to the point where everyone else would just become bored.

"Did you bring that purple dress?"

There was a purple BCBG cocktail dress that I owned that Damien was absolutely crazy about. He said that he loved the way that the dress hugged my ass.

"No I didn't you horn dog, it's still in London."

"We need another one of those dresses, let's go shopping."

Laughing, I shoved him away, "No, something else from my closet will have to do."

"Hmm, you're closet? Can we have a repeat of this morning?"

"Would it turn you on to know that I thought about that all through brunch?"

His hands ran up my thighs, "Yes it would. If I promise to be a good boy do I get a treat later?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes and a promise of sex later."

"I'm so glad that you were able to fit me into your busy schedule."

Damien became serious, "You're my number one priority, especially over business."

I had been joking but it was nice to know that.

"Thank you."

"Anything for you," he kissed my hand, "Absolutely anything."

 **Blaine's POV:**

Heather, Caden, and I were staying at Charlie and Darcy's apartment along with Sean. It was like the old gang was somewhat back together. I had to force Charlie to allow Heather to even stay at the apartment because I did not think it was fair if she had to stay at a hotel when she did not even want to go to the wedding. Darcy still hated Heather but loved Caden. I found Darcy and Caden playing in the living room when I came back from brunch with Phoebe.

"Dadda!" Caden ran to me.

I held my arms open to catch him, cherishing the hug. I had read enough parenting blogs to know that these moments did not last so I made sure to cherish them.

"How was your date?" Darcy stood up.

"It wasn't a date, it was a setup by you. And it went okay, we planned the party and are supposed to go to Play World tomorrow."

Darcy grinned, "I see my plan worked."

"Your plan had nothing to do with it."

She shrugged, "Whatever you say. So did you kiss her?"

"Kiss who?" Charlie walked into the room, "Phoebe? You and Phoebe kissed?"

The two of them were one of the nosiest couples that I knew.

"No we didn't. What I don't get Darcy is why you hate Damien so much. Have you ever liked any one of Phoebe's boyfriends?"

"Gavin," Darcy responded immediately, "Hell if he weren't in India with Sahara, I would try and get him to take Phoebe away from Damien. Since he's not here, you'll do."

Gavin, I had not thought of Gavin in a while. He was not a threat now that he was married to Sahara, my only competition was Damien.

"What was so great about Gavin that made you like him over me?"

Darcy looked lost in thought, "He was good looking, rich, smart, knew how to have fun, made Phoebe happy, never lied to her, and had a great education, should I go on?"

"I had a few of those traits and you never liked me."

"Because you're you," she scrunched her nose, "But you're going to have to do. Damien is boring, like I wish I never had to be in the same room as him. He's always talking about work and even though he's great in the sack, his main concern is his job. Phoebe deserves someone who cares more about her than her job and you could be that guy. Plus she'd be a great a stepmom to Caden, who couldn't love my handsome godson?"

I did not need to know how great in the sack he was, hell I did not need to know anything about him at all. All I needed to know was someone besides myself had faith in reuniting with Phoebe. My phone vibrated in my pocket with a text message.

 **Phoebe:** Can't make it 2morrow. Sorry

She was cancelling.

Blaine: Y what happened?

 **Phoebe:** Nothing. Not a gr8 idea. See u party

"She just cancelled on me," I told Darcy.

"That bitch!" Darcy cursed then covered her mouth once she realized Caden was in the room, "I'm going to go call her. It has to do with Damien, that little pansy."

"Did you just call your best friend a bitch?"

I was starting to like Darcy.

"Only when she's being a bitch which she is right now. I grew up knowing this independent, headstrong woman and now that she's dating Damien she's changed. I miss the old Pheebs and believe it or not, you're the guy that can get her to go back to her old self."

Heather, fresh out of the shower, came into the room. Caden jumped out of my arms and ran to her.

"Momma!" Caden hugged around her legs.

All talks of Phoebe ended.

"What do you guys wanna do for lunch?"

"I've already eaten. I was thinking of taking Caden to the park, Charlie you wanna come?"

I thought giving the girls some time together would force them to get along.

"Yeah I'm down."

Darcy glared, "I'm coming too."

"You were just talking about how hungry you were. How about you and Heather go and get lunch?"

Heather gave me a look, "Or we can all go to lunch."

"No, you two have fun," I interjected.

Charlie came back carrying Caden's diaper bag and our jackets, "We'll see you later."

I was hoping that Heather would get a few punches into Darcy but she probably would not get that far. Charlie thought that Darcy could hold her own. We took bets to see who would call or text us first.

At the playground, we let Caden run wild. He needed to let go some of that energy before his nap or else he would keep us up all night.

"So what happened during brunch?"

"We just talked, that's it. I asked her to come to Play World and I really thought she would come but I guess I'm wrong."

Charlie scratched his hair, "If it's meant to be it will be, you know? Maybe it's time for you to move on since she obviously has."

I could never tell if Charlie wanted me and Phoebe to get back together. He would make comments sometimes that had me second guessing telling him anything about Phoebe.

"She's the one Charlie. She's been the one since high school and I know that sounds crazy but she is. How would you like it if you weren't with Darcy? You love her and you've never had to fight another guy off so you don't understand what it's like to lose someone you love."

"If I lost Darcy, I'd have a lot less headaches. The girl is certified crazy but you're right, I don't know what I would do if I lost her. I will love her until the day that we die and as the wedding gets closer, I'm only getting more anxious to marry her. Most guys get cold feet but I'm ready, I've been waiting for her my entire life."

"Then you know how it feels. I just need Phoebe to realize it."

He sighed, "Alright, I'm going to tell you something because you're my best friend and I know that you would do the same thing for me. The other night I was talking to Darcy and she said that Phoebe is moving back to New York City."

"Wait, what?"

"It has to do with some stalker guy in London but she's coming back now and you'll finally have your chance."

To be able to be in the same city as Phoebe would be great. We would finally have our chance to connect without having to worry about distance.


	5. Chapter 5

**Damien's POV:**

My father and I had a business meeting early the next morning. I kissed Phoebe, who was still sleeping, on the cheek. Even in her sleep she was able to take my breath away. I resisted the urge to crawl back in bed to be with her but I knew that my father would not appreciate me being late. It felt weird getting ready in someone else's house so I tried my best to not leave a trail. Gail was already downstairs cooking breakfast for Mr. Grey. Just my luck, Mrs. Grey was already gone.

"Morning Mr. Grey," I greeted him.

He barely acknowledged my presence but I would not let him get to me. Today was the day that I presented to my father and his West Coast branch my map for expanding to a wider, hipper audience. I had been cramming for months to get the presentation ready and I was proud of what my team came up with.

"Morning Gail."

She smiled warmly at me, "What can I make you today?"

"I'll just have a coffee and some toast please."

"Coming right up."

I sat down beside Mr. Grey who was checking something over on his tablet, "Did you see the Seahawk game last night?"

"No, I was busy."

"Did you read about the new solar energy project from the White House?"

Mr. Grey sighed, "Enough with the small talk Damien. You know I don't like you and instead of asking why you're trying to get me to like you. This is more than likely never going to happen because I already have the son-in-law that I want which is Blaine. I appreciate your effort but it's a waste of time for the both of us. We'll put on a good show when Phoebe and Ana are around but other than that, there is no need for us to interact. Now, please let me finish my morning read in silence."

I had bigger things to worry about, my presentation for example, than to make Mr. Grey change his mind right now so I sat in silence going over my own tablet. If Phoebe had not been sleeping I would have woken her up to go over the presentation with me. She was still one of my favorite people to work with. Instead of joining my team within the company, Phoebe decided to go a different route and join the design and advertising aspect of the company. Her projects were always well put together and praised from my father. The crazy part was that he was not even showing favoritism when he praised her, she was just that good. I wanted her to go back to school and get a degree but she was fine with where she was in the company.

"I'll see you guys later," I wiped my mouth.

Mr. Grey said nothing.

"Good luck on your presentation, you're going to nail it," Gail handed me a travel mug, "When should I tell Phoebe to be expecting you?"

"I'll call her when it's done. Thanks for the coffee."

 **Phoebe's POV:**

My sleep was ruined by the doorbell ringing. I ran to open the door since no one else seemed to be home. Expecting it to be a package, I was surprised to see Caden standing on my front steps.

"Hi!" he giggled.

I stooped down to his level, "Why hello. Where is your father?"

"Dadda!" Caden pointed towards the black car in my driveway.

I picked him up and carried him to Blaine who was in fact sitting inside the car, "You're using your son to bribe me into coming with you?"

"I was thinking that you couldn't say no to a kid as cute as Caden so I hope he changed your mind. Get dressed, we'll wait."

Caden was squirming in my arms and I did not know what to do.

"Put him down, he needs to run his energy off. I swear the moment we can put him on Ritalin the better," Blaine teased.

"I can't come with you, I told you that yesterday."

"I don't think you meant to say that you couldn't come. The old Phoebe I knew would never let a guy tell her who she could and couldn't hang out with. I seem to remember a time when I told you that Gavin couldn't stay at your place and you said something like if you wanted to let the world's five most dangerous criminals to stay at your place you were allowed to."

I laughed at the memory, "I can't believe you remember that."

"I remember a lot of things."

So did I but it did not matter.

"Come inside while I get dressed."

Blaine climbed out of his seat and followed me inside the house with Caden running circles around him. He scooped him up with one arm and threw him over his shoulders. Caden erupted into a giggling fit. He was a great father, I had to give him that.

Gail came in from the back garden, "I couldn't tell if I heard the doorbell or not. How are you Blaine?"

"It's nice to see you Gail."

"And who is this little man?" Gail tickled Caden.

"Can you say hi to Ms. Gail?" Blaine turned Caden to face her.

"Hi!"

"Would you like to come with me into the kitchen for a snack?"

Blaine looked worried, "No sugar please."

She nodded, "Alright, peanut butter and jelly it is."

Gail took Caden off of Blaine's hands and brought him to the kitchen leaving me alone with Blaine. We stood awkwardly in the foyer, waiting to see who would break the silence.

"I really want you to come with us. At the wedding rehearsal dinner, you said that I was your best friend. Why can't we at least be friends?"

Blaine was and would always be considered one of my best friends. He had been with me as I grew from a high schooler to a freshman who had no clue what they wanted to do with their life.

"You don't look at me like a friend should."

"I'll work on it. I want us to be in each other's lives even if it's just as friends. Everyone needs friends."

"Can the two of us truly be just friends?"

He shook his head, "I don't know but it wouldn't hurt to try. I'll respect the boundaries, you're with Damien. You've made it more than clear that you and Damien are together. I want you in my life and if I can only have you as a friend then I'll take it."

I was not giving Blaine the benefit of the doubt. He had been trying all this time to work on repairing the past and I was being a bitch.

"After all this time you really want me as a friend?"

"It's better than not having you in my life at all."

"Alright," I held my hand out, "Friend."

"Friend," he shook my hand, "As a friend I should warn you that if we don't get Caden out of here soon he'll ruin anything nice in here so you better hurry up and get dressed."

"Good idea. Give me twenty minutes."

Blaine stopped me as I ran up the stairs, "I've really missed you."

"I've really missed you too."

Thirty minutes later we were on our way to Play World. Caden sat in his car seat singing along to the CD that Blaine was playing in the car.

"I wanted a rocker baby but Heather insists on these children's CDs. I've learned to tune them out," Blaine explained, "Some of the songs aren't that bad."

"How is Heather?" I was trying to be polite as a friend would be.

"She's good," he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, "She's really happy that we're hanging out."

Before the wedding, Darcy called me to ask if it would be okay to have Heather stay at the apartment. I told her that I could care less but appreciated the phone call. Her sympathetic voice changed when yesterday she called me ranting about how she had gotten stuck hanging with her while the boys went to the park with Caden. Also to get me to go to Play World with Caden and Blaine.

"You're really going to let him dictate who you can hang out with? Tell him to grow a pair of balls and stop being jealous. Better yet, I'll tell him."

"No you won't," I stopped her, "He has a right to not want me to be with Blaine but it was my decision."

"Why, are you afraid that Blaine is going to and try grope you while Caden's in the ball pit? He's not the same guy that he was before Phee. He's really grown up and Caden is his main priority now."

"It has nothing to do with Blaine, it has to do with myself. What if I fall for him again Darce?" I finally allowed my fears to be voiced, "What if I fall in love with Blaine again and I ruin things with Damien?"

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

She did not know the half of it. I had really tried to not let Blaine interfere with my relationship with Damien, going as far as moving to London to be with Damien, but the feelings never went away no matter how hard I tried. I heard stories of being in love with two people but I did not think that it was fair. I wanted to only be in love with Damien.

"I'm glad."

We let the music do the rest of the talking before getting to Play World. Caden's excitement became contagious as we walked through the doors. We checked in and let Caden run around for hours. It was like watching the Energizer Bunny running around until Caden finally became tired and cranky.

"It's nap time," Blaine carried Caden out, "Literally my favorite time of the day."

"I didn't think that he was ever going to stop playing."

I had grown to love Caden even more. Damien and I always talked about having kids but he did not want them until he was thirty or forty. I wanted one now. Blaine drove me back to my parent's house, Caden fell asleep along the way.

"Thanks for coming with us today. Caden really seemed to like you."

I looked back at the sleeping Caden and smiled, "I really like him too."

"I'll see you Thursday for the party."

Stepping out of the car, I did not want this day to end, "Right, see you then."

Damien was in my room, working of course. I climbed into the bed next to him and breathed him in.

"How was the proposal?"

"My father hated it."

That made me sit up, "What? You worked so hard on it."

"Apparently it was too juvenile to even consider it. I have to find a way to make him see me as a more serious partner. I can't go to the party, I'm sorry."

I was disappointed but understood, "Alright."

"How was your day?"

I told him about hanging with Caden and Blaine and I saw Damien try his best to listen without becoming jealous.

"It seems like you had a better day than me, I'm glad," he kissed my hand, "I'm sorry but I really need to get this done."

"Okay, I'll go downstairs but you will eat dinner with me."

"Yes ma'am."

I left Damien to go find my parents.


	6. Chapter 6 Part I

**Somewhat short but only part 1 of 2 for chapter 6!**

* * *

 **Blaine's POV:**

Tonight was the night of the joint bachelor and bachelorette party. Heather, Darcy, Charlie, Sean, and I were on our way to the bar that Phoebe had rented out. Mr. and Mrs. Grey's wedding present was an open bar with everything put on their tab. Heather was just excited to not have to stuck at home with Caden. We hired a sitter that used to babysit Darcy, allowing both of us to go out and have a night to ourselves.

Phoebe and Damien were meeting us at the bar, along with the rest of the party. Ever since we agreed on being friends, I wanted to show Phoebe that I was open to her engagement. It was going to be hard seeing the two of them tonight together but I was determined to show Phoebe that I had changed.

As expected, we were the first to arrive, followed by Phoebe who was alone. I was helping Charlie move one of the tables when she walked in. Phoebe was wearing another tight, now strapless, dress but this time it showed a lot more skin and was my favorite color on her – red. She looked like a siren with her high heels and heavy makeup. Tonight her hair was in a high pony tail, exposing a new tattoo on her back shoulder.

"What does Phoebe's tattoo say?" I asked Charlie.

He looked conflicted, "It says New York Forever in Latin or something."

"When did she get it?"

"I don't know."

Charlie sucked at lying but I dropped it at that. Phoebe stood talking to Darcy in the corner, the two of them were arguing about something.

"Is this going to turn into a chick fight?"

Charlie turned to focus on the two girls and groaned, "Just what I need tonight, two psycho best friends going at it."

Dropping the table, he started towards the two of them. Darcy looked pissed, more pissed than I had ever seen her.

"Did the church go up in flames once it realized you were getting married?" I tried to lighten the mood.

Darcy turned her glare towards me, "You were never funny."

"I told her about the stripper."

"I told you no strippers!" Darcy hit Phoebe.

Phoebe laughed, ignoring that her best friend was getting mad at her.

"Blaine and I agreed that a stripper is essential to a great bachelor and bachelorette party. Plus, she specializes in couple dances," Phoebe's eyes twinkled.

I had not known that she was a couple's dancer but color me intrigued. Charlie gave me a high five on the low down so that Darcy could not see because he had specifically told me to get the stripper. He would never cheat on Darcy, mostly because if she ever found out she would chop his balls in half, but he said that it did not mean that he could not watch her entertain everyone else.

"Go enjoy and if you don't like it, then I will take full responsibility for whatever happens."

"You're lucky you look hot in that dress or I'd tear you to shreds," Darcy finally calmed down, "I'm sorry, I'm turning into a total bridezilla. Strippers are fun, right?"

"They are," Charlie wrapped his arms around Darcy's shoulders, "Plus, think about how hot it'll be to see the two of you kiss."

"In your dreams Red," she shrugged him off her, "I've been there, done that."

People started crowding in, ending what could have been an argument. Darcy hugged Phoebe and whispered in her ear before greeting her guest. Phoebe turned towards me and smiled a genuine smile and my heart flipped.

"You look great," I somehow managed to get the words out.

"Thanks, so do you. The place looks great," Phoebe surveyed the room, "I would have been here sooner but things came up."

I did not know if it we were good enough friends yet to ask where Damien was.

"Well it's good that you're here now. Darcy needs you here, she would be driving everyone else crazy."

She laughed, "Get a few drinks in her and she'll settle down."

Phoebe was taken away by one of the bridesmaids into a dance circle around the DJ. It was nice to see the carefree girl that I had fallen in love with.

"Go over and dance with her," Heather snuck up behind me.

"Why don't you?"

Heather scoffed, "So she can call me a whore? I'm only here because you asked them to invite me. No one wants me here, it's like high school all over again."

I did not know the high school Heather, only rumors of who she was. My main concern then had been Phoebe. Now that I knew what Heather had to endure in high school, I felt bad that I was never there to stick up for her against the constant bullying.

"Come on, dance with me," I held out my hand.

"I don't know how," Heather looked down at her hand, "I never went to dance classes like the rest of the girls and I never went to prom."

"I'll show you and I'm not going to take no for an answer," I pulled her to the makeshift dancefloor, "What is it that you're always telling Caden when he's scared?"

"Fear isn't real but my love for you is," she smiled, "Are you in love with me Blaine?"

My father still wanted me to marry Heather, he even had Abby join in on his campaign but I could never see her like that. My heart still belonged with Phoebe and it would not be fair to lead any other woman on when they could not measure up to her.

"You gave me Caden, of course I love you."

"We made a pretty great kid didn't we?"

"No kid talk," I spun her around, "Let's dance."

 **Phoebe's POV:**

I watched Heather and Blaine laugh and dance from the bar. The old Phoebe would have been jealous and would have started an argument. The new Phoebe wanted to do the same but I knew that I could not because who was I to tell him who he could and could not dance with. Darcy came to stand next to me at the bar and passed me a shot.

"Drink up girlfriend, you're green is showing."

"I'm not jealous, we're friends."

That was what we were calling each other but we both knew that we could never be just friends. Damien was trying to be supportive but I could tell that he would have been much happier if we never talked again.

"Uh huh, well now that you're going to be living in the same city as your 'friend' are you going to be seeing more of each other?"

I had not told Blaine about moving back to New York because I did not want to give him hope for a reconciliation. Damien and I had to get out of London. I was missing my family, my friends, and the City.

"I never told him that I was moving back and you better not either or else I'll tell Charlie about the baby."

Her eyes widened, "I will kill you."

"He's going to know when you're the only one not getting trashed tonight. You're lucky your wedding is only a few days away or else Charlie's mother would consider you a heathen who was trying to entrap her son."

Charlie's mother still was not a fan of Darcy and I used it that information to annoy her.

"You're so funny Pheebs," Darcy squeezed my shoulder extra hard, "Now go out there and take your man back."

"He's not my man!"

Charlie came over to be near Darcy, "Come on, the stripper wants us to have our private session."

"Maybe later, I was just about to go to the bathroom," she lied.

Darcy did not want to be with the stripper because she was already feeling fat and saw her as competition. The stripper's name was Tiffany. She had huge fake tits and a hot body but nothing compared to Darcy's. Darcy's body was as banging as it was freshmen year in high school as it was now but you could never get her to listen. This wedding was making her even crazier than I was used to but she was my best friend and I was going to be there for her.

"Alright, I'm going to the dancefloor. You better get out here soon," he kissed her on the lips then made his way to Heather and Blaine.

My focus stayed on them as Heather and Blaine moved around the dance floor in unison. Blaine had always been a great dancer and was showing Heather some dance moves.

"I wish I was drunk," Darcy pouted.

I had told her that I would be sober with her but what she wanted was for every drink that she wanted to take, she gave to me instead. She was living vicariously through me.

"You'll be happy once you hold that baby in your arms. I've seen you with Caden, you're a natural."

"I never thought I was a baby person until finding out that I was pregnant," she admitted, "Now all I can think about are baby names."

I was going through the same thing, the only problem was that babies were not on Damien's radar. In fact, I had a sinking feeling sometimes that he never wanted to have a kid of his own. We were visiting our friends in London who had a baby of their own and when my friend Cara went to give Damien their son Trey, he was uncomfortable the entire time.

"I'm with you."

"Let's stop being a bore and dance. This is my bachelorette party, I don't need to drink to have fun!"

Laughing, I followed Darcy out onto the dance floor.


	7. Chapter 6 Part II

**Heather's POV:**

I took a break from dancing with Blaine to use the bathroom. Even though I was here, I wish that I was back home with Caden. He was the love of my life and I had him with my best friend. Having Blaine as a support system changed my entire life around. Some days when I wanted to revert back to that petty, insecure girl that I was in high school, he proves to me just how much I had grown. As a way of saying thank you, I wanted to get him and Phoebe back together.

Blaine was never going to love another girl as much as he loved Phoebe. Phoebe had no idea that Blaine was pretty much staying abstinent for her. He went on dates in New York but he always found something wrong with the girl and never called them back. I thought he needed to move on but if that was who he wanted, I was determined to give it to him.

The bathroom door opened and in came Darcy and Phoebe. I was always jealous of their close bond in high school; they were inseparable no matter what. Because I was Blaine's "date" for the wedding, he forced Darcy to let me stay with them. Yesterday I had tried to bond with her but she made it clear that she was not interested in any type of friendship. The phrase, "I will never be your friend," may or may not have been uttered.

"-Are you sure this dress doesn't make me look pregnant?" Darcy questioned Phoebe.

"No for the last time, now hurry up and pee."

Darcy entered the stall next to me but continued to talk to Phoebe, "When does Dumbledouche get here?"

"His name is Damien and apparently he needs to stay at home and work."

"He's really missing my party?" Darcy flushed the toilet, "What a dick."

"Duty calls," she sighed, "I just wish that I didn't feel like the third wheel in his relationship with work."

"Maybe show him what he's missing."

"I'm not getting into this with you, hurry up and wash your hands. You're procrastinating your lap dance by fixating on my relationship problems. Now come on, we're supposed to be having fun!"

They left, giving me a moment to process what Phoebe had said. There was a time after Phoebe left that I could no longer take Blaine's moping around and convinced him to write down all of the things that bothered him about Phoebe. What made the list was how she could sometimes be needy and insecure which he quickly turned around to something that he loved about her. The fact that Damien was not always around could actually bring them together. Smiling, I walked out of the stall and back to the party with new found hope.

 **Blaine's POV:**

Heather paused dancing with me to go to the bathroom. Charlie used that opportunity to come over and hand me a beer.

"How does it feel to know that you're going to be Mr. Psycho?"

He laughed, "I can't wait. If only she would hurry up and get out here so that we could get a lap dance."

"Are you sure she wants that lap dance?"

Darcy did not seem interested whatsoever in receiving a lap dance from Tiffany.

"Who cares? She was the one who wanted this joint party. I wanted the stripper and so now, we both have what we wanted."

Sean joined our group after his private dance with Tiffany, "Man oh man is that girl good."

"Great, I'm getting your sloppy seconds."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Sean shot back.

When all three of us were in training there had been a townie that Sean and Charlie both fell for and happened to share one night. I was not one for sharing but the two of them raved about it on and on.

"Please, I thought we agreed to never talk about that again. Plus, I never told Darcy," Charlie looked around the room for her, "She would kill me."

"She didn't even know you back then!"

Even I had to defend Charlie, "Have you met his soon to be wife?"

Sean busted out laughing, "Alright, I won't bring it up again."

"Bring what up again?" Darcy wrapped her arms around Charlie's waist.

He leaned down to kiss her head, "The time Sean crapped his pants during training."

Sean glared but did not fight back. My attention was brought across the bar as I watched Phoebe go through the bar's back exit. Excusing myself, I followed her through the doors.

"He's going back to New York for work," she wiped her eyes, "It's always about his stupid job. I can't be the wife of someone who only cares about work and making money."

I did not want to push them together but I knew that was part of being a friend, "I'm sure he's beating himself up right now too."

"I know he feels guilty but I just wish that he would man up sometimes and tell his dad how he really feels. His father could call him into the office at two o'clock in the morning and he would jump out of bed, no questions asked," Phoebe looked up at me, "I'm sorry, I'm sure that you don't want to hear about my relationship."

"Friends listen to friends' problems, even if they don't want to," I told her and I was being truthful, "Come on, let's go back in and enjoy the party. Darcy will kill you if you ruin her bachelorette party and I honestly hate seeing you like this."

"I probably look like a mess," she tried to fix her makeup.

To me she still looked beautiful but it was hard to convince her.

"Dancing will take your mind off of Damien. I want at least one dance with you tonight."

Phoebe was a great dancer, singing, not so much. She was confident in her dance moves and could not care less about other peoples' opinions about her. I held my hand out to her and she accepted it, never letting go even after we reentered the bar. It was a slower song so I held Phoebe close, breathing her in.

"I like this," I looked down at her, "As friends of course."

"You don't have to say that every time you know. I get it, it's going to be hard defining what a friend should and should not do but you're doing a great job. Thank you for being there for me tonight."

"I meant what I said the other night, having you in my life even as just a friend is enough and I'm not going to ruin it with old feelings."

Phoebe looked down for a moment, "So those feelings are old?"

I could not tell if this was a test or not but I did not want to fail it, "Let's just dance, alright? No talking, just dancing."

"I like that."

So we danced and danced a lot longer than everyone else. I did not want to let Phoebe go, fearing that if she left my side that I would not see her again for the rest of the night. We did talk, but it was small talk in between songs. I listened to Phoebe talk about her job and London and how much she loved what she was doing. I could have listened to her talk about the weather and still be interested.

"I'm talking too much. Tell me about what you've been up to."

"Well besides raising Caden, I'm actually doing a lot of computer and security programming."

She grinned, "I always knew that you would do great things O'Reilly."

"You made me want to do great things."

If it were not for Phoebe pushing me to go back to school, I never would have gotten my degree from Columbia. I was now trying to get my Master's degree which would be an even bigger pay increase. Heather and I wanted Caden in private school and especially now that Heather was back in school, we would be able to afford it.

"So that tattoo on your shoulder," I stared down at it, "What does it mean?"

Phoebe bit her up, drawing my attention to where they should not be, "I'll just say it, it does partially symbolize us in New York but it also symbolizes New York being my home. I'm sure Charlie has already told you that I'm moving back there."

"Yeah, he's never been good at keeping secrets."

She rolled her eyes, "Neither is Darcy."

"When are you moving back?"

"After the wedding, I'm having everything shipped back from London."

"Abby is going to want to have you guys over for dinner."

"I know, I've talked to her, Blithe, and Meredith. They want a girls' day with the four of us when I come back."

Blithe and Meredith were Team Phoebe all the way, they always considered her their sister-in-law even after we broke up. In their opinion, Phoebe had every right to want to break up with me.

"I'm glad that you guys still talk."

"They were the sisters I always wanted, you know?"

"They saw you that way too."

Our conversation was cut short when Darcy and Charlie announced that they had prepared a speech for everyone. Phoebe and I were pulled in different directions as our duties called for us to also make a speech. I kept mine simple and congratulated the both of them but it was Phoebe's speech that everyone liked.

"I'm the maid of honor for many reasons. I have known Darcy the longest, she's my best friend, my partner in crime, and my soul sister. I hand her over to Charlie as he becomes all of those things for her and its going to be hard letting her go but at the same time, I'm relieved that she found someone who can handle her at her best and at her worst. Here's to the happy couple, two of the wildest and craziest lovebirds that I have ever met. I wish you nothing but happiness for years to come. Now let's drink!"

The end of her speech was met with tons of cheers and the music restarting. Phoebe hugged Darcy and Charlie then made her way back to me. Heather joined the spot next to me, surveying everything.

"Where've you been?" I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"Getting hit on by a drunken groomsman."

"That's my girl," I laughed, "Come on, dance with me."


	8. Chapter 7

**Alright, so I just started school again and have been getting tons of assignments. I can't promise when the next chapter will be up but I hope soon. Don't think that I'm ignoring you or giving up, I'm just busy!**

 **x**

 **las96**

* * *

 **Damien's POV:**

I sat on my father's private jet beating myself up. Phoebe needed me this weekend to be with her at the wedding and I was letting her down; again. I knew that I could not keep dropping everything without Phoebe finally getting tired of it and leaving me. It was what happened between my father and his first, second, and fourth wife – the third one left because of his cheating. When I first met Phoebe we were both starting out in the business world, we were more focused on one another. She was still the free spirit that I fell in love with and I could not believe that she was still putting up with a guy like me. I loved my job but I loved her more. I was determined to tell my father that I would not be his slave boy anymore. There was no need for me to prove what an asset I was to the company. I was going to let my work and profit speak for itself.

Phoebe was my background on my laptop and I shut down the file my father sent me to look over just to look at her. She was the most beautiful girl that I had ever met and I pinched myself every day for being the man worthy enough for her. The photo was taken in London of the two of us kissing in front of the Big Ben. Corny, I know, but it made her happy and that was all I wanted to do. Her smile was genuine, I could tell because she had crinkles around her eyes. All I ever wanted was to make her smile like that all day, every day.

My plane landed and my driver was waiting to take me to my father's office. I kept reviewing the files that he sent me about our tax filings for the company. The numbers were off so I fixed the spreadsheet and sent the file back to my father. He was waiting for me in his office, Oliver sat faithfully at his desk. I could feel him check me out as I passed by. Even after all this time he looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable and every time I told Phoebe she would roll over in laughter.

"How was your flight?" my father asked, not even looking up from his laptop.

"Alright considering I had to leave my fiancée."

I was not happy about being here and the sooner that I was able to leave, the sooner I could get back to Phoebe.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. I need you to sign this paper understating our taxes," my father shuffled the papers towards me.

"You want me to do what?" I could not believe what my father was asking of me, "I thought those numbers were a mistake. You did that on purpose?"

"Don't be naïve Damien, if you're going to succeed in this world then you can't be afraid to break a few rules. Do you honestly believe that every billionaire and millionaire got where they are today by playing by the rules?"

I had always admired my father's work ethic but right now I saw a man that I did not even know anymore.

"I can't do that," I shook my head, "I refuse to do it."

"Then you're out of the company," my father stood up from his desk, "There are tons of other eager twenty-something year olds waiting and begging to be my protégé. I could ask anyone of them to do this and they wouldn't even hesitate."

"I'm your flesh and blood, you'd honestly just kick me out of the company like that? People would talk, questions would be asked, you wouldn't be able to get away with this."

"I've been doing this for years. How else do you think your Ivy League education was paid for? All of those trips and boarding schools, you think I got there by playing fair? Wake up Damien, it's time for you to be a man now. Phoebe isn't going to want to be with some nobody that has no means to support her."

My father knew that Phoebe was my weakness, I would do anything for her.

"She loves me, she would never turn her back on me because I had no money!"

"Oh yeah? Let's test your theory. Her ex, Blaine, I'm sure he'd love to sweep in and take Phoebe as his own. I can only imagine the two of them having kids that are supposed to be yours, living in a house that was meant for you, all of that gone when I blackball you out of the company."

I would rather die than have somebody like Blaine marry Phoebe. I had to do this for her, she would have to understand. He had me and from the satisfied smirk on his face, he recognized that I was going to do what he said.

"Alright, where do I sign?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Phoebe's POV:**

Darcy was finally married and I did not have to kill her. Their ceremony went exceptionally well that even I was surprised nothing went wrong. Darcy's mother did not cause a scene, Charlie did not forget his vows, Caden walked down the aisle without needing help, and Darcy looked like Princess Diane as she walked towards Charlie. Blaine confided in me that Charlie had tears in his eyes, the reaction Darcy was going for, but Blaine believed he was only crying because he was marrying a psychotic bitch.

I sat at the head of the table watching Darcy and Charlie dance their first dance as husband and wife, looking the happiest that I had ever seen either one of them. It was bittersweet – I was happy for my best friend but I wanted Damien to be here. Their song ended and everyone else from the wedding party was invited to the dance floor to join them.

"Can I have this dance?" Blaine held his hand out to me.

Blaine had been my rock throughout today as I struggled with not clawing Darcy's eyes out. He was having a much easier time getting Charlie prepared for today so he was able to go on any last minute errands that Darcy threw at him.

"Here's my knight in shining armor," I took his hand, "I thought you'd never ask."

We walked to the dancefloor, where a small crowd of Charlie and Darcy's wedding party was already forming as Darcy and Charlie's song ended. Another slow song came on and Blaine hesitantly brought me closer. His hands stayed where they were supposed to be and if he slipped his face would redden.

"I don't think I've ever known you to be so bashful," I teased.

He laughed, "You're making me nervous. Plus having a room full of people watching us is not helping my nerves."

Sure enough, my eyes landed on the table that held my parents, Teddy and Gwen, Abby and Mr. O'Reilly, Heather, and a few other guests. I had tried to get Darcy to split my parents up from Abby and Mr. O'Reilly but

"I feel like your father is going to pull a fire alarm or something just to keep us from dancing."

Blaine's eyes left mine and moved over towards his father, "He's just an angry old man."

"He has every right to hate me," I whispered, "And so do you."

Blaine refocused on me, "Not here."

The song ended and everyone else was called to the dancefloor. I was separated from Blaine to dance with my father who was just bursting to talk about the dance that Blaine and I just shared.

"What did you two talk about? It looked serious near the end."

My father fooled everyone else but not me, he tried to act like he was above gossip but he was one of the nosiest people that I knew. I had never known him to ever mind his business, regardless of the topic, and this time was no different.

"Leave it alone Mr. Grey."

He frowned, "I hate it when you call me that. Why can't you call me daddy like you used to when you were little and happy to see me?"

"I am happy to see you," I rested my head on his chest, "But I don't want to talk about Blaine right now. How was Theodore taking me dancing with him?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk about Blaine?"

"He and I are trying to be friends, don't ruin this dad."

My father tried to act offended, "Have I ever gotten in the way of your personal affairs?"

I perked my eyebrow at him, "Really wanna go there?"

"Alright, alright, I'll stay out of it but if I might add, it's your mother you have to worry about."

I already knew that she was going to be a problem last night when I came home. She had stayed up waiting for me using the false pretense of having a manuscript to read. I had been grilled about the party and especially about Blaine. My mother was not usually as invasive so I was surprised that she kept asking me questions about Blaine. The only excuse that I could think of to get out of the conversation was feigning being drunk and lightheaded to go upstairs.

"Yeah, I'll talk with her later. I'm going to go walk around and make sure that everything is okay in the kitchen."

Dinner would not be served for another half hour but I wanted to escape the conversation as fast as I could. I found Darcy and Charlie dancing together but motioned for her to follow me. Now that the wedding was over the attention no longer needed to be focused on her. She followed me into an empty room and locked the door behind her.

"What's wrong?"

"My parents are attacking me with questions about Blaine, I can't breathe," I fanned my face.

She grabbed my shoulders, "Relax, take deep breaths."

"Why does everyone expect me to have all of the answers? I don't see anyone grilling Blaine about anything. How about how he thought it would be a great idea to lie to me for months and proposing to me knowing that he had a baby on the way."

Truth be told, as much as I wanted to be with Blaine that was still a major unsolved issue. I could never fully trust him again after how extremely hurt I was after finding out about Caden. Back then I may not have been mature enough to be a stepmother to Caden but Blaine took that opportunity away from me without giving me a choice.

"I know Phee," Darcy rubbed my back as I felt tears trail down my face.

"I can't believe I'm crying over this on your wedding day," I straightened myself up, "I'm so selfish."

"I know you are but you'd do the same thing for me if the roles were reversed. Clean yourself up Grey and show that boy what he's missing."

She was right, no boy was worth the tears, even if he was the love of my life.

 **Blaine's POV:**

I was cornered by Mrs. Grey for a dance even though I was purposely trying to avoid any interaction with her. I saw it in her eyes the night of the rehearsal dinner. She did want me in Phoebe's life anymore, not that I could blame her, but it was not her decision.

"Stay away from her Blaine," Mrs. Grey did not try and start small talk, "She's been doing great and you'll only ruin it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Her head shook, "Don't play that innocent game with me Blaine. You had your chance, twice I might add, and you ruined both chances. I loved you for Phoebe at first but now I see what happens when you come in and ruin things. I'm left to pick up the pieces and I don't want to have to do that again."

"With all due respect Mrs. Grey, isn't that Phoebe's decision?"

"The two of you can't think clearly when it comes to one another. She loves Damien, she's going to marry Damien."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," I pulled away from her, "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go get a drink."

My hands clutched the shot glass in front of me. Mrs. Grey had been in my court at one point but not anymore. When Phoebe and I were in high school, she was the one who I would talk to about getting through to Phoebe. All of that was gone now.

"Can I have a whiskey on the rocks?"

This was not my night I sighed as Theodore sat down in the stool next to me.

"How're you doing Blaine?"

I ordered another drink, "Fine."

"Good to hear. How's your son?"

He was trying to egg me on but I was not going to give him the benefit of losing my control. When he noticed that he was not getting to me, Teddy upped his antics.

"I'm not sure if you know this but Phoebe is engaged to a man that isn't going to have to be paying child support until his kid is eighteen."

"It's actually twenty-six in New York if the child goes to college," he continued.

"Leave him alone Theodore," Mr. Grey stood on the right side of me.

Theodore's posture instantly changed, "We were just talking."

"Go find your mother, she's been waiting to dance with you."

Theodore grumbled and cursed as he stalked off to find Mrs. Grey. I had had enough Grey interaction to last me a life time.

"Don't let them get to you," Mr. Grey advised.

"I'm not. I'm just getting myself something to drink."

Something caught Mr. Grey's attention causing him to let out a string of curse words. I followed his gaze to the dance floor where Damien was swinging Phoebe around. She had a smile on her face that was not there when I last spoke with her. I could feel my heart break so I ordered another shot. Followed by another and another.

"You can't let that Ivy League chew toy win her. You have to fight for her."

"I'm done fighting for her, she's obviously made her choice."

I was no match to a multi-billionaire heir to a corporation. What could I offer Phoebe besides baggage and a son with a girl I was not even in love with?


	10. Chapter 9

**Phoebe's POV:**

I felt like the happiest girl in the world once I saw Damien walk through the doors. He was dressed in one of my favorite Hugo Boss suits that he owned and his tie matched my dress. I from the dancefloor to jump in his arms, catching him by surprise.

"You made it," I kissed him on the mouth, "I thought you were going to miss everything."

"I finally stuck it to my father and he gave me a promotion. As managing partner I don't have to run every time he calls anymore. You'll have my full attention," Damien twirled a strand of my hair, "God I've missed you."

"I've missed you more," I kissed him again, "Come on, let's dance."

I dragged him to the dancefloor, our attention only focused on one another. I did not care about anyone else in the room now that Damien was here. There could be no music playing right now but all I wanted to do was be with him.

"Let's go on vacation next week, just you and me," Damien suggested, "Wherever you want."

Damien had not been this spontaneous in forever, he was turning back into the guy I fell in love with.

"Let's go to Greece."

"I'll go anywhere with you," Damien kissed my forehead, "Let's go someplace private, I haven't seen you in forever."

My eyes searched around the room for Darcy but I could not find her anywhere. Instead I found Blaine and my father who were watching me and Damien intently and discussing something.

"My father is watching us."

Damien followed my line of vision, "Aren't you the one who's always telling me to stick it to my father?"

"Touché."

This new Damien turned me on in ways that I had missed. First, I had to find Darcy and make sure that she would not miss me for twenty, I glanced at Damien, maybe twenty-five minutes. I finally found Darcy crying in the bathroom. At first I thought they were happy tears but I knew my best friend and those were not happy tears.

"I'm bleeding," she cried, "I'm not supposed to be bleeding down there."

Immediately I moved her dress around and sure enough there was a little red stain under her garter belt that she had worn specifically for their honeymoon.

"It could mean nothing," I tried to reassure her, "It could just be light spotting."

She shook her head, "No, it's definitely my period. I really thought I was pregnant Phoebe, what am I going to do?"

There was a knock on the door and the color drained from Darcy's face.

"Please don't let anyone see me like this."

"I won't," I led her deeper into the bathroom and into one of the stalls, "I'll go see who it is."

Darcy nodded and locked the door behind me.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"Oh, um, it's me. Charlie sent me to go find you and Darcy," Heather responded.

Great, I opened the door and sure enough came face to face with Heather.

"Darcy is feeling a little sick, we'll be right out."

"Does she need crackers?" Heather pulled out her purse, "I used to feel so sick when I was pregnant."

I froze, "What are you talking about?"

"I was pregnant too at one time don't forget. I noticed last night that Darcy did not drink a drop of alcohol and whenever someone would hand her a glass she would either pretend to sip it or just leave it on the table."

Heather was smarter than I had given her credit for.

"Come in," I held the door open, "Lock the door behind you."

She listened my instructions then followed me to where Darcy was hiding.

"Darce? Heather is here."

"What?" Darcy stuck her head out, "I didn't want you to tell anyone!"

"She thinks she can help and plus she knows."

After explaining the blood ordeal to Heather and showing her Darcy's soiled getup, Heather reassured us that Darcy was going to be okay.

"I'm no doctor but I dealt with the same thing, it's just your body getting used to your pregnancy. Sometimes spotting is usual, especially if you were supposed to have your period. Leave a message with your doctor but I'm sure you and the baby will be okay," Heather took control of the situation, "Do you know how many times I wished that I wasn't pregnant and led myself to believe that? You're going to be a great mom Darcy, don't sike yourself out."

Darcy nodded but she still did not look too sure, "I have to get back out there or else people are going to start wondering where I am."

She could not go back out there looking like she was going to throw up, from the look on Heather's face she thought the same thing.

"Phoebe will go get your makeup bag and I'm going to go get you some ginger ale and more saltines. You're going to be camera ready in twenty minutes and nobody will be able to tell the difference."

Heather and I walked our separate ways to get what we needed to get for Darcy, all the while trying to stay hidden from the guests. I knew Darcy wanted this baby more than anything so I was hoping that Heather was right in the advice that she gave. Darcy came off as headstrong and carefree but those who knew her knew how that was just a defense mechanism that she put to protect herself from any more harm.

When Darcy's mother still lived at home, Darcy was in absolute hell. Her mother was a verbally abusive alcoholic that would manipulate Darcy into doing things for her. Her mother went too far one night, cops were called, Darcy stayed with us a for a couple of weeks, and her mother was sent off to rehab instead of prison. Darcy's father was a busy man and often left the two of them alone for weeks while he was out of town, something that he regretted doing for the rest of his life, but the courts did not believe that he did not know about the abuse. I knew Darcy's father, he was a kind man, just busy and was not capable of tormenting Darcy the way her mother had.

Charlie of course knew what happened in Darcy's past and tried his best to shelter her away from any harm and for that I was thankful. He loved Darcy more than anyone in her life which made him perfect to be not only her husband but the father of her children. He did not know yet about the pregnancy but I knew that he would be the best father in the world. The two of them deserved to have a healthy baby and I would do anything to make sure that it happened; even if that meant working with Heather.

We met back in the bathroom where Darcy was waiting for us, looking a lot better than when I had previously left her.

"The bleeding stopped," Heather told me, "I told her that if she changes before the honeymoon no one will ever suspect anything."

The three of us worked together to fix Darcy's hair and makeup before sending her back out to the dancefloor.

"We make a good team," Heather washed her hands.

"I guess."

"Do you think that if things had gone differently in high school that we would've been friends?"

It was hard to tell. Heather had changed a lot since I had first met her, whether or not that had to do with Blaine and Caden was a hard question.

"I don't know."

"For what it's worth now, I hope we can at least try to be friends, for Blaine."

"Maybe," I said before walking out of the bathroom.

 **Blaine's POV:**

Mrs. Grey pulled Mr. Grey away to dance with her, leaving me at the bar by myself. I had not allowed myself to get this drunk in a long time but I was addicted to the pleasure that it gave me. Being this close to Phoebe and not being able to touch her was killing me. If Damien were not here then I would be able to talk some sense into her. I needed to know if there was still hope for the two of us and that I was not just making scenarios up in my head or reading into something that was not there. It could not be a coincidence that she was moving back to New York, could it?

"I'm going to say this one time and you're going to listen," Damien leaned up against the bar next to me, "I'm very well connected and can make very bad things happen to you if you don't listen to what I'm going to say. I love Phoebe and would do anything to keep her away from you, with that being said, how much is it going to cost to keep you away from us?"

"Excuse me?" I turned to look at him, "Are you seriously going to bribe me to stay away from Phoebe?"

"You have a son. Don't you want him to be well provided for in the future? I could make sure that he gets into all of the best schools, the best jobs, he will never feel like he did not get the best of everything. All I need from you is your word that you won't interfere with me and Phoebe."

"Walk away Damien."

Damien had no right to even think about my son and if he kept talking about Caden like he knew him, I would lose my temper.

"I'm prepared to offer four point five million dollars."

I would never be able to come close to obtaining that much money in my life time, we both knew it.

"You consider me that much of a threat that you would pay me off?" I straightened up, "See where I come from, we don't use money to settle our battles, we use or fists. I'm not going to fight you because you'd have your daddy slap a lawsuit on my hands far greater than anything I would be able to pay for. I'm going to play fair when it comes to Phoebe. If she wants to be with you, then so be it, but if she wants to be with me I'm going to be more than happy to wipe it in your smug little Ivy League face. Now I think its best that you walk away before you do something that you're going to regret."

Damien fixed his suit jacket, "Don't say that I didn't warn you."

The game was on and Damien had just started it.


	11. Chapter 10

**Phoebe's POV:**

It was our first day back in New York and I could not be happier. All of our belongings from London had shipped and were waiting for us in our new apartment. We were the current new owners of a West Chelsea apartment that had three bedrooms and bathrooms, perfect his and hers walk-in closets, a master en suite, 10 foot ceilings, state-of-the-art kitchen, office; it was the most luxurious apartment that I had ever lived in. I felt like I was living in a fairy tale, a very expensive, thirty thousand a month fairy tale. The biggest difference between Blaine and Damien was that Damien was never afraid to spend money. Why would he be? His father paid for everything that he owned, he never worried about costs.

Georgia was the first person to come over and see our apartment. She was still living in the first apartment that we shared together with her new boyfriend, Alexander. Alexander and Georgia met one night at an art gala at The Met sponsored by her father. She was attracted to his go-getter attitude, something she believed that Sean lacked. In her own words, she wanted a man, not a boy. I was shocked when she told me that she had broken off the engagement with Sean but she seemed happier and stress-free.

"I'm so jealous of this place," Georgia twirled around in my walk-in closet, "This is what I want once I move out of the apartment."

Laughing, I threw some clothes in her direction, "I thought you came over to help me unpack."

"That was just a ruse so that I can get the dirty details out of you about seeing Blaine. How is my favorite heartbreaker?"

Georgia never forgave Blaine for lying and was all the way Team Damien. Not to call her superficial but Georgia liked that Damien could provide better for me than Blaine could. We were raised different, she was all the way a Southern Belle. She believed that a man should provide for his wife and his wife should take care of the children and the home. We were complete opposites when it came to love; she married for money while I wanted to actually love the guy that I was with. Even so, she was still one of my best friends.

"I didn't really see much of him," I lied.

"Uh huh," Georgia looked up from her perfectly manicured nails, "And I'm not sleeping with my yoga instructor. Tell me the truth Grey."

Damien was working in his office downstairs but that did not mean that he could not hear whatever I said.

"I am telling the truth," I tried to give her a look explaining that I would tell her another time which she purposely ignored.

"I need the deets!"

My bags were finally unpacked, with no help from Georgia, "Let's take the dogs for a walk."

Batman and Robin sat on one of the couches in my closet but perked up at the mention of a walk. I grabbed Batman while Georgia picked up Robin and followed me downstairs to get their leashes. I could hear Damien in his office in yet another heated conference call. He had been getting better with working less hours but there were still many times where I would wake up to find an empty spot next to me and a note saying that he was at the office.

"I'm going to let Damien know where we're going, I'll be right back."

I knocked on Damien's office door before poking my head in. He looked up from one of his computer screens and signaled me to wait a minute.

"I have to put you guys on hold for a minute," Damien interrupted whomever was speaking then smiled at me, "What's up?"

"Georgia and I are going to take Batman and Robin on a walk. Do you need anything while we're out?"

"Hmm," he stood up, "Everything I need is right here."

He scooped me into his arms, kissing me all over, "I wish I could go with you."

"Just think, this time next week we'll be in Greece."

His expression fell, "About that…"

"You're kidding, right?" I pushed him off of me, "I already planned everything."

"I know, I know, it's just that my father assigned me onto this new project and it's a major deal. He's giving me bigger tasks and I'm trying to prove to him that it wasn't a mistake. The old me would have dropped everything and gone on vacation with you but the partner version of me needs this project."

I wanted to understand, I really did but I couldn't, "Right. I'll see you later."

"Please don't be like this."

"Like what?" I challenged him.

"I know you're mad at me and if there was some way to get out of this project I would but not all of us can just take photos all day, some of us have to actually work."

What he said stung, "Fuck off."

"Wait, that's not what I meant," Damien tried to grab ahold of my arm as I stormed out of his office.

"Let go of me," I shook him off, "I need to go take some silly photos."

"I never said your photos were silly!"

Georgia stood in the kitchen, pretending to be engrossed in Robin's leash.

"Let's go," I told her.

"Don't leave, give me a few minutes and I'll end the call and we can talk; alright?"

I turned to Damien, "Don't bother. Now if you excuse me, I need to go take some photos of the sidewalk or a bus."

Georgia followed me out of the apartment's doors and headed towards the elevators. We rode in silence to the main lobby. I was still fuming as we walked onto the street, taking my anger out on the pavement with every step that I made.

"He means well," Georgia began.

"Don't give me that," I snapped, "I'm ready to burn his father's business down."

"You're being overdramatic."

Georgia was used to my rants by now and knew that there was nothing to be said that would calm me down. I

"I just want," I paused, "No need a man that can pay attention to me. I know that sounds needy, most girls would love to be with Damien, and I love being with him. Just not the workload that seems to always follow with him. We were supposed to go to Greece next week and now he tells me that it isn't going to happen. I want to spend time with him and have his full attention without his eyes glued to his phone or laptop screen."

"I get it but sometimes you have to give Damien some slack. He's juggling you, his father, and everything in between. I see that he doesn't want to ignore you but he loves his job."

"So I'm overreacting?"

"I didn't say that, personally I would cut sex off for an entire week if Alexander ever did that to me. That boy knows better."

My nerves somewhat eased, "We haven't had sex since before Darcy's wedding."

Georgia stopped, causing the people behind us to curse, "You haven't had sex in that long? You and Blaine used to go at it like rabbits. I was always afraid that his dick was going to fall off from how much sex the two of you had."

"We weren't that bad."

She gave me a look to which we both began to laugh.

"Okay, we were," I admitted, "But maybe that was part of our problem. We never communicated, instead we just had sex."

"How is that a bad thing?"

To most girls it would not be a bad thing but I wanted more to a relationship than just sex which is what I got from Damien.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing but if Blaine and I communicated more then maybe we would still be together."

"Are you going to tell me what happened at the wedding?"

I told Georgia and she listened without interruption but I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to burst in from time to time.

"Wow," she sat back on the park bench.

We had made it to a dog park to let Batman and Robin run free with other dogs. They were happy to be let free and with other dogs. Damien was not a fan of the dogs and sensing that, the dogs did their best to mark their territory in Damien's closet.

"Damien was a trooper whenever he was with Blaine so I can't complain, it was just confusing being with both of them at the same time. There's always going to be that spark with Blaine and I will never act on it as long as I'm with Damien but it doesn't help that I sometimes wonder what life would be like if we were together. Do you ever feel that way about Sean?"

"Not at all," Georgia scoffed, "Calling off our engagement was the best move for the both of us. We were miserable planning the wedding. Our relationship was based off of sex and look where it got us?"

She had a point regarding her relationship with Sean but that did not mean that it would have happened between me and Blaine; did it? My cell phone buzzed in my pocket and Damien's face lit up the screen. Instantly I shoved it back in my pocket. I was not ready to listen to him yet.

"Wanna go grab something to eat?" I stood up.

Georgia smirked knowingly, "Come on Grey, let's go shop off some of this anger."

She knew me so well.


	12. Chapter 11

**Phoebe's POV:**

I was shopped out and ready to talk with Damien. Unfortunately for me, he was gone. In his place was a note begging me to stay up for him so that we could talk; I threw the note away and ordered takeout. I needed to talk to someone who was a neutral third party in this situation but there was no one. My friends and family were Team Blaine and Team Damien and right now I wanted to talk to someone that was Team Phoebe. There was a point when Damien and I first started dating that people who I did not even know that would come up to me asking how I could break off my engagement with Blaine. If only they knew the truth about the entire situation.

Damien came into our bedroom around midnight carrying Robin in his arms. Batman was curled next to me in Damien's spot fast asleep. He looked at me cautiously, trying to figure out if I was still mad at him or not. I kept my focus on the television that we had installed hanging above the fireplace in our room. Damien began loosening up his tie, his eyes still trained on me.

"Can we compromise?" Damien knelt beside the bed, "I know it's not Greece but I found this bed and breakfast in Jersey that we could stay in this weekend."

"I hate Jersey."

"What about the Poconos or Lake George? Please, I'm trying here Phee."

I turned the television up, pointedly trying to end the television. I saw Damien stand and hoped that he would leave, instead he unplugged the television.

"Hey!"

Batman's ears perked up at the sound of my voice but he did not try to get up from his spot. Robin was running around Damien's legs, trying to bring the attention back to her. Damien ignored her and sat as close as he could to me without me being able to throw something at him.

"I want to go somewhere with you, anywhere, even if it's not Greece. I swear to you that I will not bring a laptop, my cell phone will be turned off, and my tablet will stay here wherever we go this weekend."

I finally looked at him, "No cell phone whatsoever?"

"I swear to you," he moved closer and kissed my hand, "You put up with so much of my shit and I take it for granted. I'm sorry, I wish it was Greece, but Lake George is great during the summer."

"I've always wanted to go," I admitted, "But if we go, I want to go with you. Not your phone and definitely not your stupid Blackberry going off every five minutes."

Damien grinned, "It does not go off every five minutes but your wish is my command. Nothing will beep all weekend and even if it did it wouldn't matter because I'm leaving everything here."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise," Damien kissed my pinky finger, "I hate arguing with you."

Relaxing, I brought Damien closer to me, "I do too."

"Does this mean that I get my spot on the bed back?"

I shuffled Batman over, much to his dismay, so that Damien could lay next to me. He took off the rest of his clothes and threw them on the floor next to him. When he tried to kiss me on the lips I blocked him, still not ready to give into him.

"No sex until I know for sure that we're going to Lake George. Reservations don't count this time. We have to actually be on the road, better yet, we have to be at the actual hotel."

"Alright, I deserve that," Damien nuzzled my hair, "It's going to happen, I promise. I want you and that purple dress packed for Friday afternoon."

"I think I can make that happen," I played with his hair.

He groaned into my hand, his arms moving to pin me down.

"I said no sex."

"Does that include oral?" Damien's eyes moved their way down my body.

"Not if I'm the one receiving it."

His eyes shone with amusement, "So we're on the same page now?"

Damien inserted his fingers into my mouth before finding their way inside of me. I gasped at the initial shock of coldness but welcomed the touch. His mouth met mine as his fingers moved around, quickening up in pace as my breaths became shallow. Damien's lips broke away from mine as he lowered himself down on me. At first there was teasing, followed by his fingers doing most of the work. I was in ecstasy as Damien explored every part of my lower region with his mouth and fingers. My hands held his head in place, trying to get him to focus on the spot that needed him the most.

"I'm going to," I moaned.

Damien's eyes were trained on me as he continued to eat me out. His eyes were filled with hunger as he led me closer and closer to my orgasm. My mouth fell open as he sucked and licked inside of me. No sound came out as I orgasmed but Damien's mouth kept going until I was forced to let out a moan that if we had neighbors, they would be knocking to make sure that I was okay.

Damien made his way back up to my face, trailing kisses everywhere on my body, "Am I forgiven?"

"You're on the right track," I smiled, drowsy from my orgasm.

"I'm glad," he kissed my neck, "I'm going to go shower. Wait up for me?"

"Always."

I waited for Damien to get inside the shower before getting up to plug the television back in and clean up his mess. This was one relationship where I was the cleaner one. Damien was used to having maids clean up after him, especially when he had his own apartment, and was getting used to living with a woman again.

He climbed back into bed with me after his shower, smelling fresh and clean. Damien pulled me closer to his body before falling asleep. I stayed up watching him, wondering if I was right in putting my faith in him again. I could see that he was trying and I was grateful but I needed to know that business was not always going to come first in our relationship. I fell asleep thinking about it.

Damien was gone when I woke up in the morning. He went in a lot earlier than I did to go to the office. Most days I was able to work from home but today was not one of those days. I loved my team but I loved my bed more. It had been a while since I had even been at the office, preferring to work and meet with people in a less formal setting but I needed to see the progress everyone had made for next month's issue.

O'Keefe was waiting for me downstairs with my third cup of coffee in his hands. Gratefully, I grabbed it from his hands and slid into my seat. We had made a lot of progress over the years to the point that he had even asked me what to get his girlfriend whenever it came to gift shopping. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, we were friends. He was one of the first people to know that Blaine and I were not together and he, if anyone, was the most neutral when it came to my new relationship with Damien. I had tried to get it out of him but he refused to partake in choosing which guy he liked for me better; regardless of how many times that I begged.

We pulled up outside the office and O'Keefe held the door open for me.

"Are you eating with Mr. Zano today or would you like me to pick you up?"

"I don't know if I'm eating with _Damien_ today but I will let you know."

Even though I had gotten him to call me Phoebe, he refused to call Damien anything but Mr. Zano, even after Damien told him not to call him that.

"Have a good day Phoebe," he shook his head, "Tell Mr. Zano that I said hello."

I did not have enough time to see Oliver before the meeting with my team. He had become one of my best friends in New York, especially since he was always able to tell me whatever Damien was doing. I had missed him something fierce when we moved to London. I was happy to be able to see him on a daily basis now.

Everyone was already in the conference room waiting for me, they were used to it by now. Natalie, my assistant, was standing behind my chair prepared with her tablet to take notes. She smiled at my arrival and greeted me with sticky notes of phone calls that I needed to return.

"Sorry I'm late guys," I sat my coffee cup down, "Alright, I want to hear what everyone's done so far."

I was still working with the youth branding of the magazine and was happy to be doing it. The people were my age, had the same creative mindset that I did, and were a lot more easygoing than what Damien had to deal with. He sometimes sat at the meeting, mostly to bring ideas and progress reports back to his father, causing everyone to be uptight. Damien hated that they did not like him as much as me, especially because he was their boss first, but there was nothing he could do; he was the boss's son.

By the end of the meeting, I was confidant in what everyone had and was ready to present it to Mr. Zano. I had it easier than Damien did and was somewhat happy that my standards were not as high as his. Everything I did Mr. Zano praised, whether or not he did it because I was Damien's fiancée I never knew. Natalie followed me to my office, reading me messages that were left with her.

"-Lastly, Mr. Zano wants you to come to his office for lunch later."

"Which Zano?"

"Your fiancé."

I nodded, "Alright, thanks Natalie. I'm going to answer these calls first and respond to some emails."

"Of course Ms. Grey and welcome back," she smiled before shutting the door.

 **Damien's POV:**

I was called to my father's office before lunch. I had already told him that I was going away with Phoebe for the weekend, something he had recommended a while back, but I had never been able to do until now. Oliver waved me in before focusing on his laptop. I could already hear my father yelling at someone on the phone. I walked around his office, waiting for him to finish his ranting to find out what he wanted. There was a photo of me and him hanging on the wall next to his desk from a few years back, right before we moved to London. Phoebe had thought that it would be sentimental, I did not see it that way.

"I need this on my desk by tomorrow," my father slammed down his phone.

I turned to face him, "You summoned?"

"Funny," he shook his head, "What do you think about us hiring Blaine's company as our new security company."

"What?" I asked in disbelief, "You can't be serious."

"I am," my father stood up, "Think of what kind of message it would send to him. You'll basically be his boss."

"He would never agree to this and Phoebe think that I did this intentionally. She's just getting over the fact that we aren't going to Greece, I don't need to start another argument with her."

"Say that I hired them, I don't care, but if you want to keep your fiancée, you need to make sure Blaine knows who's in charge," my father said.

"Using his company to prove that I'm better than him is low, even for you."

"You'll thank me for this. I already signed the contract. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved. You'll be able to keep an eye on him, he'll be making a very generous amount, and I get to get rid of the shit company that we have now."

"What am I supposed to say to Phoebe?"

"Whatever you have to," his phone rang, "I'll see you later."

I was being dismissed and sent to my death. Phoebe was waiting for me in my office for lunch. I did not want my father to become involved in whatever was going on between me and Blaine but he was right. Doing this gave me the upper hand and allowed me to make good on my promise to do whatever it took to keep Phoebe.

"I just wanted you to know before you heard it from someone else," I held her hand.

"I really don't think this is a good idea Damien," she shook her head, "There are thousands of security companies, why does it have to be Blaine's?"

I tried my best to look innocent but I hated lying to her, "My father was recommended him by his other friends' company and he thinks that it it'll be good to have someone we know on the inside."

"I don't like this, I don't want you guys to hire him."

"It's already done, my father already signed the paperwork. I just thought you should know. It could be a good thing, it'll give me a chance to get to know him better."

Phoebe frowned, "Why do you want to know him better?"

"He was part of your life. You can't keep the two of us away from one another forever. What's the big deal? Am I your dirty little secret?"

I tried to seem carefree but the way she was acting made me think that there was something that she was not telling me.

"I just don't want to be in the middle of this. I won't be a pawn in this."

"How could you think that? You're my fiancée, not an object to be won. I can try and tell my father how against this you are but you know him. He's hard to negotiate with and do you really want him messing with our vacation?"

She ran her fingers through her hair, "You swear you had no idea?"

"I promise."

"Alright, I trust you," she kissed me, "Now let me tell you about my meeting this morning."


	13. Chapter 12

**Blaine's POV:**

Tonight was my night off from Caden. As much as I loved spending time with him, I needed to be around people my own age sometimes. This is why tonight, after much deliberation, I was going on my first date since Caden was born. I was nervous, beyond nervous. The last girl I was with I was paid to date. Seeing Phoebe with Damien was my motivation to move on and join the dating scene. Sean was an avid online dater but I wanted to do it the old fashion way. There was a woman at my office who had been more than forward that she wanted to go on a date with me and I finally caved in.

Elizabeth was gorgeous which made me wonder why she was so adamant about dating me. I never was physically conscious – I worked out and ate right – and never had problems getting dates but Elizabeth had more to offer than just her looks. She was a computer mastermind and what she was able to do made her that much more attractive. Plus she was great with Caden, which was an added bonus.

I had met Elizabeth when I first interviewed for the company while going to Columbia. It was a computer security firm that Mr. Grey had set me up with. We dealt with everything having to do with computers. I loved going to work every day and my salary was not too bad.

"So, what do you think?" I stood in front of Heather.

We did not live together anymore but we lived within walking distance of each other. After making the decision to move out, Caden primarily stayed with Heather but she did not want me to feel as if she was taking him from me. She did her best to make sure that she found another apartment close to me and I would always be grateful. Heather was one of my best friends and I valued her opinion. She was the one who had encouraged me to ask Elizabeth and I was finally taking her advice.

"Turn around," she twirled her finger.

We were at her apartment and Caden was playing with his trucks beside Heather. His toys were everywhere at the moment but he was happy which was all that mattered. Heather stood up from her spot on the ground next to Caden to give me a once over. She had dressed me in a very new and very expensive Ted Baker suit that she found on sale at Bloomingdale's.

"Come here, lemme fix your tie," she fussed, "I swear I'm going to be fixing your ties until you find yourself a wife. How do you get ready for work in the morning?"

"I do pretty well dressing myself thank you very much."

She rolled her eyes, "Try to keep your humor to a minimum tonight."

Heather took a step back and nodded her head in approval.

"What do you think Caden?" I scooped him off the ground to give him a kiss.

"Dadda pretty."

"Dads aren't pretty Caden," I kissed fixed his hair, "They're handsome."

"Hurry up or you'll be a handsome gentleman not getting laid tonight."

"Hey," I frowned, "Never joke about a man not getting laid. Plus, I don't think you're doing too well on that department either."

Heather hadn't been on a date either since Caden had been born. She claimed to always be busy with school or work or Caden. She was great at making excuses. Blithe and Meredith were always trying to fix her up with someone but she refused to date until Caden was older.

"I'm doing fine," Heather took Caden from me, "Now go and have fun."

I kissed her on the cheek, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled and nodded. I walked out of Heather's apartment and stood to catch a cab. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I shook my head knowing it was Heather giving me last minute advice.

"I know, not too much baby talk tonight."

"Oh uhm," Phoebe hesitated, "That's not what I was calling about."

"Phoebe?" I froze.

"Yeah, hi. I just wanted to tell you something before you found out from someone else."

She was pregnant with that douchebag's baby.

"Okay," I braced myself.

"I honestly had no idea that they were doing this but Damien's father hired your company to work for us."

This news was better than her being pregnant but it was not something that I wanted to hear.

"Okay," I rubbed my forehead.

"Damien said that he tried to get his dad out of the deal but it was too late and I'm really sorry."

"Phoebe, relax," I finally caught a cab, "I'm not mad. I think it's great."

Phoebe let out a breath, "You do?"

"It'll help the company get some exposure, so yes I do."

"I'm so happy to hear that," she sounded more relaxed, "And I made sure that the contract was legit and you're getting paid a really great amount and the benefits are there too."

"I'm sure my bosses are going to tell me all about it tomorrow."

"Of course, you're probably busy, I'm sorry."

I was not used to hearing Phoebe sound so unsure of herself.

"No, it's alright. I'm glad to hear from you."

After the wedding we stayed at Charlie and Darcy's apartment for another day before returning to New York. I wasn't able to talk to Phoebe again but it was good to hear from her. We had agreed on being friends but I did not know if that included phone calls and text messages like before.

"You too. I'm supposed to eat with Abby, Blithe, and Meredith later this week."

"Yeah, they told me. They're really excited to see you, that's all they wanted talk about."

She laughed, "I've missed them and I miss the city."

"I know they miss you too."

"Do you want to get lunch sometime this week?"

I wasn't expecting Phoebe to make the first move and it only complicated things even more.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"It's just lunch," she reassured me, "Plus we can go over the details of the offer."

It seemed innocent enough, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll text you. It was good to talk to you Blaine."

"Same."

We hung up and for the first time in forever I did not feel the lingering dread feeling in talking with her. I wanted to go on this date to prove to everyone and myself that I was over Phoebe. It made going on this date with Elizabeth seem worth it.

I was meeting Elizabeth at this Brazilian steakhouse in Soho. She lived with her best friend in an apartment not that far from the restaurant and she loved this place. I stood in the entryway waiting for her, nervous that she was not going to show. When the door opened and she appeared, I was blown away. Her naturally wavy hair was straightened and gone were her glasses, replaced with what I assume were contacts. Elizabeth was petite and tonight the heels she was wearing made her legs look longer and she seemed more self-assured of herself. And her dress, god, it hugged her curves, curves that I did not even know that she had. In one word, she was stunning.

"Wow," I breathed.

Her entire face blushed.

"I'm sorry," I shook my head, "You look great."

"Thank you."

Our waiter led us to our table and I pulled the seat out for her.

"Have you been here before?" Elizabeth asked me.

"No," I surveyed the place, "It seems really nice."

Nice was an understatement. Like I said, most of my free time was spent with Caden so it was nice to be in a place that did not have cartoon characters walking around or annoyingly upbeat music.

"The food here is great, I promise," she smiled.

I was able to relax around Elizabeth. She was more relaxed outside of work and really funny. It may have been for my benefit but she asked to see new photos of Caden which I gladly showed her. As a precaution I had made Heather promise to text me that Caden was sick but I was relieved that she had not. I was being pessimistic by believing that there would be first date awkwardness but we were both able to keep the conversation flowing.

The more I learned a lot more about Elizabeth, the more I liked her. She grew up in Maryland with both her parents, who were doctors, and two siblings. She completed her undergraduate degree at University of Maryland and hoped to get a Master's. Even though we were the same age, Elizabeth was definitely more experienced with the world. She had done two semesters abroad and loved every second of it.

"I wish I had gone abroad," I admitted.

There was so much that I wish that I had done but was never able to do. I wanted to wait until Caden was older before traveling again and this time I wanted him to be with me.

"You seemed to have had a pretty nice life. Not everyone could say that they dated a heir to a billion dollar enterprise."

Many people around the office had wanted to know about my relationship with Phoebe but I had never felt the need to brag about it.

"True," I took a sip of my wine.

"Are the two of you still friends?"

I winced, "Something like that."

"Exes are never fun to talk about, are they?"

"Not especially. Apparently her fiancé's company just hired us for a new account."

Elizabeth's eyebrows rose, "That should make for some interesting watercooler talk."

"To say the least."

"Well are the feelings still there?" she looked down at her plate.

"No," I grabbed her hand, "I'm sort of interested in someone new."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Elizabeth changed the subject from Phoebe and I was happy to listen to more stories about her childhood; but I was also thinking about what I told her. I was trying to convince myself that I had not been lying by saying that there weren't any feelings there for Phoebe but I could not decide if I was telling the truth. I wanted to move on and Elizabeth wasn't a rebound, she was someone I could genuinely see myself being with.

"I had a really great time tonight."

We were standing outside of Elizabeth's apartment. I had tried stalling because this was the awkward part of the date. Did I kiss her or shake her hand? If she asked me to come upstairs did I try to be a gentleman and say no or did I go upstairs because I haven't had sex in forever and my hand was no longer doing the trick anymore? All of these decisions ran through my head as Elizabeth watched me.

"Oh," I tried to focus, "I did too. I would really love to see you again."

"You will at work tomorrow."

Just like that, she made me feel okay, "Besides work."

"I'd really like that too," Elizabeth moved a little bit closer to me.

 _Just do it, she obviously wants to kiss you._ I took the chance and moved closer to her and Elizabeth did not pull away. Her lips were soft and she tasted like cherries. I grabbed her hips to bring her closer to me and she let out a little moan. Encouraged, I kept the connection going until we both needed to come up for air.

"Wow," she grinned, "That was some first kiss."

"Yeah," I tried to catch my breath but in reality all I wanted was to kiss her again, "I should get going."

"Don't you want to come up?"

I wanted to but I made the decision that I did not want our relationship to end before we even had a chance to start, "Trust me I want to, god I want to, but I want more than sex with you. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Elizabeth kissed my cheek, "And it makes me want you more."

"Next time," I promised.

She nodded, "Alright."

I waited until she was inside before letting out a groan. I needed a cold shower, a very, very cold shower.


	14. Chapter 13

**Phoebe's POV:**

I was becoming frustrated as I stood in my closet trying to figure out what to wear to lunch with Blithe, Meredith, and Abby. They were already blowing up my cell phone with text messages telling me to hurry up. My hair and makeup were done, the last thing I needed to figure out what to wear. We were meeting at an Italian tapas bar in Chelsea.

I squealed when I saw everybody. Blithe and Meredith were the sisters that I had always wanted and Abby had adopted me as one of her daughters when I was dating Blaine. I kept in touch with them when I was in London but this was the first time we were all able to see each other and it was not until then that I had realized how much I missed them.

"You're hair!" I picked up a strand of Meredith's newly dyed brunette hair, "You aren't blonde anymore."

"I needed a change," she shrugged, "Bobby loves it."

"How is he? How're the twins?"

"We'll get to all of that," Blithe intercepted, "Show us that rock that's weighing down your finger."

They all knew I was engaged, I had told them before the tabloids got ahold of the news. I was not dating Blaine anymore but it did not mean that I kept them out of my life.

"Let's not make a big deal guys."

"Are you kidding me? You're getting engaged to one of New York's most eligible bachelors! That calls for a celebration," Blithe signaled for a waiter, "Your fiancé was obviously handcrafted by the gods and no mere mortal woman was good enough until he met you."

I laughed, missing Blithe's dramatic approach to life, "Settle down, I'm not marrying him just because of his looks. I really love him and he loves me."

"We're all happy for you," Abby smiled sadly at me.

I knew what she was thinking but said nothing. The waiter finally came to our table and Blithe ordered a round of shots to get us started.

"Lemme see photos of your new place," Blithe begged, "I bet it's beautiful."

"Once we're all moved in we're going to have a house warming party. You guys are all obviously welcome to come," I searched for photos of the apartment on my phone to show them.

We shared photos and stories then gossiped like the old days. I was watching Meredith tell a story of her twins, Nicholai and Zuri, with envy. I had always wanted a big family but Damien was not a fan of that. He wanted one son to keep the Zano name going.

"Can you imagine your kids with Damien?" Blithe gushed.

"How about we leave my personal life alone and worry about yours?"

She rolled her eyes, "What love life? I'm too busy to date."

"So she sleeps around instead," Meredith cut in.

"Just because not all of us want to marry and raise an army of kids doesn't mean that I'm not happy," Blithe said, "I love what I'm doing, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, your sister is just jealous," I joined Blithe's defense, "We're jetsetting around the world and she has to stay in boring New York."

"I made my bed and I love it."

"Here's to us," I raised my glass, "May we never stray from being the fabulous women that we are."

They all raised their glasses in unison.

I was catching up on work in our bedroom when Damien walked in.

"Hey you," he kissed my forehead, "How was lunch?"

"I had a little bit too much to drink and had to take a nap. How was work?"

Damien climbed into bed with me, "You mean besides having to listen to my father yell all day?"

"This weekend will help you relax."

"That's what's keeping me going, I can't wait," he snuggled me, "I'm so tired."

"I have a few more emails to answer then I'll turn the lights out."

He was already asleep.

 **Blaine's POV:**

Both Heather and I had a busy schedule today so we needed someone to watch Caden. Heather dropped Caden off at my father and Abby's apartment but asked me to pick him up after work.

"Dadda!" Caden perked up.

Caden and my father were playing with some of the trucks my father bought for him to use at his place.

"How's my favorite guy?" I scooped Caden up, "Did you have fun with grandpa?"

"Papa plays trucks," Caden showed me his truck, "My truck."

My father stood up, "I've had rug burn all day because of this kid."

"Thanks for watching him for us dad."

I appreciated the relationship my father and I were building. We had our moments where we would get into screaming matches but we got along a lot better now. He loved Caden and did everything in his power to make sure that Caden was happy. His stone cold exterior smoothed out whenever Caden was around. My father and Abby watched Caden a majority of the time and did their best to help out me and Heather. Abby treated Caden like he was really her grandson and he adored her.

"No problem. Abby made us some dinner, should I set a plate for you and Heather?"

Heather had a night class tonight and asked if I could keep Caden tonight. She was enrolled at Hunter College to get her teaching degree. Most of her assignments could be done online but the other half was actually having to go to the classes.

"Just for me, Heather has class."

"That's right," my father took a plate from one of the cabinets, "How are those going?"

"She really seems to love it. She has some friends and likes her teachers."

My father smiled, "Bright girl, any guy would be lucky to have her."

I knew what he was trying to hint at but I was not going to get into another argument with him about it. He wanted Caden to have the best home life possible, meaning he wanted me and Heather to be together. My father loved Heather, I had never heard him say one bad word about her, and treated her better than he ever treated me.

Abby came out of the bathroom, saving me from having to continue this conversation. She pulled me into a big hug, something that I have gotten used to.

"Guess who I had lunch with this afternoon?"

"Yeah, Phoebe told me that you guys were all going out together. How was it?"

Abby shook her head, "That girl was blessed with some great genes. I haven't seen her in person for years but I swear she looks like the same high school girl that I met. We ate at a tapas bar in Chelsea, one of Phoebe's friends is the owner or something. Our entire meal was comped. "

I was focusing on my father's reaction but he kept his face a mask. One of our latest arguments was at Charlie and Darcy's wedding reception. My father meant well but he never liked Phoebe and made that even clearer when he took me aside to tell me to stay away from her. He still saw me as the heartbroken guy lusting over the unattainable billionaire heir, but I had to move on. When I told him about my date with Elizabeth he was happy that I was finally dating again, even if it was not Heather.

"I'm glad you guys had fun," I sat down.

Abby fastened Caden in his high chair, "She's apparently going down to Lake George this weekend with her fiancé. Dear god that ring must've cost a fortune."

"Its bad taste to talk like that Abby."

She ignored him, something she was very good at doing, "Pish posh! I read in a magazine that it cost anywhere between forty and fifty thousand dollars."

My father rolled his eyes, "Why do you even bother reading magazines like that when you can just ask her yourself?"

"I would never ask her that," Abby shook her head, "She's one lucky girl though. You both saw her fiancé at the wedding, he's gorgeous."

"You really know how to make a guy feel good about himself, don't you Abby?" I teased.

"I won't bring her up again," she rubbed my shoulder, "How was your date the other night?"

"It actually went great," I grabbed a roll from the bowl, "I'm seeing her again this weekend."

"I'm so happy for you!" Abby put some ham on my plate, "When do we get to meet her?"

As well as things were going with Elizabeth, we had only been on one date so far. It was too early to meet the rest of my family.

I tried to change the subject, "Did you get those new cameras installed in the studio?"

Abby was still running all types of classes at her gym but she needed more protection. She had classes later in the night and my father hated her being alone that late.

"As a matter of fact we did. Your friend, Matt, showed me how to use the control system so that I can see everything even when I'm not there."

A few weeks ago some kids broke into the studio and trashed the place. Abby was devastated that all of her hard work was gone but in typical Abby fashion, she got over it and is making the place even better than before.

"That's great Abs, when's the reopening?"

"I talked with the contractors that the insurance company hired and they estimate about three weeks."

Abby put on a brave face but I knew she missed her clients and her gym.

"It's going to be bigger and better than before," I squeezed her hand.

She smiled at me, "I know, I can't wait to have everybody back. We were able to finally build an entirely new space for kids to play in while their parents workout."

"That's great Abs."

Caden brought our attention to him when he knocked his cup down to the ground. His lower lip began to wobble, something I am pretty sure Blithe taught him. He had been using that trick lately to get what he wanted.

"Not going to happen Caden," I ignored him.

"Aw come on, he's just a baby," my father picked up his cup, "Here you go,"

The wobbling lip magically disappeared.

"He comes here and gets spoiled by you two."

Meredith felt the same way whenever she left the twins with her mom and my dad.

"We're their grandparents, it's our job to spoil our grandkids," Abby insisted.

"He gets his way here and throws a fit at home when we don't let him do whatever he wants."

"Alright, alright, we'll settle down on keeping our prince happy," Abby wiped Caden's chin, "He's just so cute."

I could not complain too much. My father and Abby took care of Caden so that we did not have to pay for a sitter which helped us save money.

"Do what you want," I finally gave in.

"We were going to anyways."


	15. Chapter 14

**Damien's POV:**

"Here's your key Mr. and Mrs. Zano," the desk clerk handed us our swipe cards, "Please let us know if there's anything we can do to make your stay even more enjoyable."

Phoebe squeezed my arm on our way to the elevator, "I can't believe we're actually here."

"I told you, didn't I?" I kissed her beautiful mouth.

"I didn't think we'd get here without your dad calling you to the office. I'm so happy, thank you Damien."

We were following the bellhop to our room upstairs. I had my assistant book us in the Presidential Suite as a surprise for Phoebe. I did not care the cost of anything during this trip. Phoebe deserved the world and I was happy to give it to her.

"Look at this view!" Phoebe ran to the window in the suite, "We're right above the lake. Can we go down and swim?"

I had other ideas besides swimming. Our entire ride here all I kept thinking about was finally being inside Phoebe again. She had kept her promise of withholding sex until we got here. Those were the longest three days of my life.

"Later," I wrapped my arms around her waist, "I've been wanting to tear off your clothes from the moment we stepped in this hotel."

"Oh yeah?" she grinned at me, "Why's that?"

Her smile was enough to get my hard on going. I hoisted her onto my hips and led her to the bedroom. She squealed as I threw her onto the bed. Phoebe pulled me down towards her by the loop of my jeans. My erection sprung from my boxers when she freed me from my boxers. Her mouth closed around me, causing my mouth to fall open. Phoebe swirled her tongue around my tip and sucked her way down. The pleasure was indescribable and I did not want it to stop.

"Fuck," I pushed her head further down on my length, "Just like that."

Phoebe's mouth stayed wrapped around me as I continued to guide her. Right when I felt myself about to climax, I pulled myself out of her mouth. I thanked the God above that Phoebe was wearing a dress, allowing me easy access to enter her.

"No underwear?" I felt in between her folds.

"You weren't the only one wanting this," Phoebe brought me down to her mouth.

I carefully lowered myself into her, savoring the gasp from her mouth when I was all the way in. Phoebe's hand pushed me deeper into her. I clenched my teeth to restrain myself from exploding this early.

"Harder," she moaned.

Her head was turned to the side, allowing me access to trail kisses down her neck. Phoebe's fingers ran through my hair, keeping me at her neck. I could feel her muscles constricting, pushing me even closer to my breaking point. I could not even warn her as I exploded and saw stars. Beneath me, I felt Phoebe's body shake as she reached her own climax.

"Wow," I rolled off of her.

I heard her release a breath before cuddling into my side. After sex was one of my favorite moments with her. Don't get me wrong, the sex was always fantastic, but whenever we finished she would always cuddle herself into me. Her hair is splayed everywhere and her eyes are wild yet droopy. I could never get tired of seeing her like this.

Playing with Phoebe's hair almost put me to sleep. My eyes were almost fully shut when she moved from underneath my arms.

"I want a baby," Phoebe looked up at me.

"What?" I sat up.

She sat up from underneath me, "I've been thinking and I really want a baby."

"Where's this coming from?"

When we first started going out, we had talked about kids, but I thought we had a long time before going there. There were things I still wanted to do before having a child and thought Phoebe and I were on the same page.

"I don't know, I see all these people with babies and it really makes me want one; don't you?"

"I thought you'd want to be married first."

"Then let's get married."

I could not handle this right now, "What?"

"We're engaged and marriage is what happens after. Don't you want to be married?"

Spontaneity was one of the things I loved about Phoebe, but this was not like her.

"Of course I want to be married to you Phee, but why the rush? We just got engaged."

She looked down at her hands, "I thought you wanted to get married."

"You know I do," I took her hand into mine, "I wouldn't ask you to marry me if I wasn't sure that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. What happened to the big, fairytale wedding that you wanted?"

"I don't know," Phoebe shrugged, "It seems like everyone I know is getting married, so why don't we?"

"I want to get married on our own terms. I want your parents to be there and your brother. Darcy will kill you if she doesn't get to be the matron of honor."

She laughed, "Yeah she would."

"I'm finally able to do what I want to do within the company. Do you see how hard it was just for us to go on vacation? A wedding would be even crazier. I only plan on being married once and I want to do it right. To throw a baby on top of all of this wouldn't be fair to you or our baby."

"You're right," Phoebe kissed me, "Sometimes I feel all this pressure from my mom and friends."

"Fuck them. We'll get married when we want to. We're going to get married and it's going to be the highlight of the year."

"Promise?" her grey eyes stared intensely at me.

I was not used to Phoebe doubting me, but I could understand why, "Nothing is going to stop us from getting married. I love you and you love me."

"Okay," she nodded, "Good."

 **Phoebe's POV:**

I don't know why I told Damien that I wanted a baby. Sometimes I said the first thing that popped into my mind even if it does not make any sense. I wanted a baby, especially Damien's baby, but we had a plan. We wanted to be married first and then have kids, or in his case, a child. We had had this plan forever and it was working, so why did I want to mess it up?

Yesterday I had lunch with Blaine and all he could talk about was Caden. He showed me photos from before I even met Caden and I had never seen such a loving look in his eyes. Talking to Meredith and now Blaine, hearing them describe parenthood made me want to experience the same thing. It was silly, but I couldn't help but wonder if things had been different would I be pregnant or a mother by now.

"I'm really happy for you," I handed Blaine back his phone.

He smiled, "I appreciate that. So how's your magazine?"

The magazine and my team were my pride and joy at the moment, "Fantastic. We just landed this really great photo interview with the King William and Queen Kate so I get to go to Buckingham Palace in a couple of weeks."

"That's great, I would kill to travel again."

"Mommy and Me classes aren't enough excitement for you?" I teased.

Blaine rolled his eyes, "Those women are so catty, no wonder why half of their husbands are cheating on them."

"Blaine O'Reilly going to Mommy and Me classes? I don't believe it."

"I go when Heather can't," he shook his head, "I should assert my dominance and say no, but Caden likes playing with the other babies. I think he has his eyes set on this one baby in the class"

"He's going to be a heartbreaker."

Blaine played with his coffee cup, "We never got to talk after the wedding."

Mentally, I was not prepared to have this conversation. I knew that it was inevitable, but I still dreaded having it.

"Let's let the past stay in the past."

"So we're just going to avoid talking about what happened between us?"

"I don't want to argue Blaine, especially not here. We're both different people now. I'm with Damien and you have Caden, why can't we just leave it at that?"

I knew Blaine and from the look on his face, he did not want to leave it in the past, but he nodded. O'Keefe pulled up to the curb, but stayed in the car. He happy that I was having lunch with Blaine.

"I should get back to work," I stood up, "It was good seeing you again."

Blaine gave me a strained smile, "Yeah, you too. I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot more now."

"Right, we have that meeting next week."

"I don't want things to be awkward so I just want you to know that I'm dating one of the people that's going to be working on the team with us."

"Why would that be awkward?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

"I should really get back to work. I'll see you next week."

I don't know why I was thinking about this as I laid in bed with Damien. He was still sleeping, leaving me to flip through the channels. I looked over at him and smiled, thinking about what life will be like when we have kids. My mother is already driving me crazy with wedding talk and preparing for a baby would be ten times worse. She wanted a grandbaby so bad and kept pressuring Gwen and Teddy. I wanted to be the first one to give my parents a grandchild, I felt like they deserved it after everything I put them through. They supported me when I decided to drop out of school and through the breakup. I wanted to make them proud.

Damien rolled away from me in his sleep. I climbed out of bed as quietly as I could so that I could shower. The sun was just setting, creating a perfect sunset for me to stare out into as I showered. Everything here was so peaceful, making me rethink the city life. I loved the excitement, but thought about what it would be like to live out here permanently. Damien could never last out here, he loved the city life too much. I knew being without his cell phone was going to kill him this weekend. It was nice to finally have his attention again. We both needed this vacation.

"Is there room for one more?" Damien opened the shower door.

Nodding, I smiled when he brought me closer to him.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he grabbed the shampoo.

"You looked so cute sleeping, I didn't want to wake you up."

"Men don't look cute, we look masculine."

Him and his ego, "You didn't look masculine drooling all over the pillows."

"Men drool."

I turned him around so that I could wash his back, "I'll remember that whenever Batman and Robin drool on your pillow."

"They do that shit on purpose, especially Batman."

Batman and Damien's love hate relationship was ongoing.

"I'm sure a masculine man like you isn't threatened by a little dog."

"Of course not," Damien turned back around to face me, "Where do you want to go for dinner?"

"Let's go down to the pool."

He pouted, "I thought we'd get a little room service and stay in."

"No way, I finally have you without your phone and I'm going to use that to my advantage."

"Alright," he turned the shower off, "After dinner then?"

I pushed him out of the shower, "Let's get a move on."


	16. Chapter 15

**I decided to rewrite this chapter. Hopefully the response is better!**

* * *

 **Phoebe's POV:**

For the first time in a long time, I woke up with Damien's arms wrapped tight around me. I needed to get up and use the bathroom, but did not want to wake Damien up. He rarely got to sleep in and I was not going to be the one to ruin his sleep. I laid there for a while staring down at my ring, grinning. I was marrying a man who meant the world to me. So what if he didn't want kids yet? I could wait forever just as long as we had each other. It sounded corny even in my head. The old Phoebe would have rolled her eyes, the new Phoebe could not wait to be Mrs. Damien Zano.

Most people didn't understand what I saw in Damien. There was much more to him than just the workaholic, millionaire heir that lived in his father's shadows. I had heard people call him that around the office and I knew that Damien had too. He was always trying to prove to everyone that he had a right to be working at the company and that it wasn't just handed to him because of his father. I saw in him a potential leader who had the potential to take the company to new heights; he just needed his father and everyone else to do the same.

I felt Damien shuffle from behind me and turned my head to see if he was awake. His warm brown eyes fluttered open and rested on me. Damien's hair stuck up in weird places and his face needed shaving, he looked so good to me right now.

"Morning," his eyes closed, "God, I forgot how comfortable you are."

"I need to pee."

Damien's grip only tightened around me, "Not yet. I want to savor this moment."

I couldn't hold my pee in any longer and shot up from the bed. Damien groaned into the pillow, but let me run to the bathroom. Damien was flipping through channels when I walked back to the bed. His arms welcomed me back to the bed and I snuggled closer to him.

"We can't just lay in bed all day," Damien played with my hair, "Let's order room service and go down to the pool area for a while."

"I like that plan," I sat up to get the menu, "Do you know what you want to eat?"

His eyes lowered down my body and I smacked him, "You're perverted."

"On second thought, forget the food," Damien pulled me back down to the mattress.

Damien nudged himself carefully inside of me, biting his lip. I gasped which he silenced with his mouth. I felt every movement that he made. Pleasure took over my body as Damien's hands explored me all over. He pulled away and flipped me over onto my stomach. I balanced myself on my knees, waiting for Damien to position himself inside me. I used the wall to hold myself up as Damien filled me from behind. His hands gripped my side, keeping me in place as he rammed into me over and over again. I could hear his breathing become shallower with every stroke as he tried to prolong the inevitable.

My knees weakened as I came closer to reaching my orgasm. I felt it build up starting in my toes until I screamed as I came. Damien held me up until I felt him pull out and jerk himself off onto my back.

Damien rolled off of me, bringing me on top of him. We laid silently, our breaths creating the only sound in the air. I could smell ourselves all over the sheets and smiled.

"I love you," Damien kissed me, "You were right, we needed this vacation."

"Isn't life so much better when you admit what I already know?"

His hands tickled my stomach, "Just take the complement Ms. Grey."

I felt sticky and needed to shower, "Can you order me up chocolate chip pancakes?"

"What about another round?"

He was insatiable, "After breakfast, hurry up."

To tease him, I stripped myself of my clothes in front of him. Lustful eyes stared back at me, Damien knew how to make a woman feel wanted. I threw my shirt at him before getting into the shower.

 **Damien's POV:**

I was putting suntan lotion on Phoebe's back as we sat on the beach. The weather was great and the sun felt nice on our skin. I wanted it to be like this forever. We had no responsibilities, no one observing our every move, and my phone was not ringing every five seconds. This was paradise and I did not want to leave here ever.

"What if we rent a boat for dinner?"

Phoebe looked up at me and smiled, "I like that idea."

"Did you bring the purple dress?"

"Yes sir," she rolled her eyes.

I did not want to have to fight guys all night for staring at my beautiful fiancée. I was not usually this possessive, but Phoebe turned me into a different person. When we got back to New York, we would have work alongside Blaine. I know why my father hired Blaine's company and it did not mean that I had to like it. I would keep the two of them apart as much as possible. Seeing how he looked at her at the wedding only reconfirmed that he was not over Phoebe. He did not fool me and if he thought I was going down without a fight, he was mistaken.

"You never told me how lunch with Blaine went."

Phoebe looked up at me again, "Why?"

"I just wanted to know."

"We talked about the meeting on Monday."

I closed the suntan lotion bottle up, "Yeah, I was thinking maybe you should skip the meeting."

"What?"

"It really doesn't have anything to do with your department. We're just going to go over the computer security software."

"I'm going to that meeting," Phoebe snapped, "I'm part of the company too."

"No one is saying that you aren't. I just don't want you to be bored."

Truth be told, I did not want her to know about my father's plan on bribing Blaine's company to protect documents regarding our taxes and any other private information. I knew Phoebe and she would not be okay with what my father is asking me to do. This was the side of me that I did not want Phoebe to ever see. I wanted her to believe that I was the good guy, the guy for her.

"Thank you for considering my feelings, but I'm a big girl," she stood up from her beach chair, "I'm going for a swim."

Sighing, I sat back in my chair. It would be better keeping Phoebe in the dark. I did not want any blowback if anything happened. My father claimed that no one would ever find out and I did not believe him. I was not prepared to risk my future with Phoebe for the company.

I needed to make this right. I waved one of the hotel's staff over to me.

"I need you to find me a boat to rent for tonight. Ask the kitchen to prepare two steaks, potatoes, green beans, wine, chocolate covered strawberries, and red velvet cake. Bill it to the Presidential Suite," I looked down at his nametag which read "Xavier" and handed him a hundred from my wallet, "Keep the change."

"Thank you Mr. Zano," he nodded before heading inside.

Phoebe was far into the water, her back turned towards me. I kept my eyes on her just in case she decided to do something reckless just to make me mad. She swam back to shore, keeping her eyes trained on the sand in front of her. I waited until she was back at our chairs before saying anything.

"How was your swim?"

She said nothing.

"You're going to ignore me now?"

Phoebe brought out a book from her bag and pulled her shades down. Sometimes she really was immature. Not wanting to deal with this right now, I pulled my sunglasses down and brought out my book. We sat in silence, allowing other people to do the talking for us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Xavier heading towards us. I stood up from my spot to intercept him.

"Everything is set Mr. Zano," Xavier said.

I handed him another hundred, "We're going to need flowers too. Something nice, no roses though. Also, keep this quiet and away from my fiancée."

"Understood," Xavier nodded.

I walked back to lay down next to Phoebe.

"Call from the office?" her eyes were focused on her book.

"No, I forgot to tip him this morning," I lied.

Whether or not she believed me was a different story. We spent the rest of the afternoon down at the beach, rarely speaking to one another. Lunch was nothing but awkward silence between the two of us. I could no longer take it.

"Please talk to me," I picked Phoebe's hand up, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I know you're mad at me and think that I'm hiding something, but I honestly didn't think you would want to go to the meeting."

"You're right, I do think you're hiding something. Out of nowhere you tell me that you're hiring my exes' company when there are hundreds of companies in New York to choose from and now you don't want me sitting in during the meeting. I don't like being kept in the dark."

"I swear that there is nothing to hide," I lied again, feeling myself become guiltier by the second, "If you want to sit in the meeting you can."

Phoebe glared, "Thank you for your permission. I am so honored to be considered an asset to the company. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do."

"You're overreacting."

"Am I?" she challenged me, "We don't keep secrets from each other, but right now that's what you're doing."

"Why do you always think that I have an ulterior motive when it comes to Blaine? You're constantly defending him and refusing to believe anything genuine I say about him!"

"Because I know you Damien. You may think I don't, but I do. You're a brilliant businessman who calculates every move so I know that you're using Blaine for something. He's my friend and I won't let you hurt him."

"Friend? He's your friend now? What happened to hating the guy who got some whore pregnant?"

"How dare you," Phoebe stood up, causing people to look in our direction, "Fuck off Damien."

Phoebe slammed her chair into the table and stormed away. She was driving me crazy with this back and forth of hating and then liking Blaine. When I first met Phoebe, she was broken. Blaine had broken her and I hated him for that. It felt like forever until I finally met the real Phoebe and she allowed herself to trust me. Now she was defending him?

I paid our bill before finding Phoebe in our suite. She sat on the floor in front of our bed staring at the dark television screen.

"Blaine is always going to be a sore subject between us, isn't he?" I dropped down next to her.

"I guess."

"I don't want to be the bad guy."

She looked at me, "What're you talking about?"

"I'm letting my jealousy get in the way of business and I'm sorry. If it were any other person I would want you to be in the meeting; people love you."

"I'm not the same girl who was in love with Blaine. He's my past and you're my future. I wouldn't be with you if I didn't love you. I hate fighting with you, but I want you to listen to me: I'm your fiancée. I'm marrying you. We're both so insecure and it leads to these insane arguments."

"You're right," I kissed her cheek, "I'm sorry."

"I accept your apology."

We sat for a minute in silence.

"Do you still want to go on the boat?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Of course."

"I have everything planned. Meet me at six for dinner. I'll be back."

Around six o'clock I had a car pick Phoebe up at the hotel and bring her to the docks. I opened the car door for her and held my hand out for Phoebe to take. We were working on building the trust that we once had before Blaine returned.

"Ms. Grey," I led Phoebe to the rental boat, "Welcome aboard."

Her grin dazzled me, "Why thank you Captain Zano."

Phoebe held onto my hand as we climbed onto the boat. She was wearing the purple dress that I loved and heels that made her legs look perfect. My eyes were trained on her ass as she walked ahead of me to the lower deck of the boat.

I already had music playing and wine waiting for us. I had the kitchen prepare a dinner for us, I could not cook to save my life. However, I could steer a boat and was happy to pay whatever it would cost to rent a boat for us. I wanted privacy with Phoebe on our last night here.

"So where are we heading captain?"

"I have the evening all planned out for us," I brought two wine glasses out from the cupboard and poured us some wine, "But first, a toast."

"Toast to what?" Phoebe cocked her eyebrow.

"Does there need to be a reason?" I sipped my glass, "Let's say to our health and the delicious meal I had prepared for us."

"I'll drink to that."

Dinner went on without an argument or any talk of Blaine. I sat across from Phoebe, listening to her tell me stories of her childhood. She told me how she used to bully Teddy into doing things for her when she was younger. I could never get tired of hearing her talk. My watch went off and it was time to steer the boat back to the shore. The air was colder now, especially because I left my jacket downstairs.

Phoebe walked up the stairs towards me wearing nothing but my jacket. I could see the tops of her breast and wanted to ravish her right then and there. Makeup sex was one of my favorite activities to do with her and she seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did.

"I think you should anchor the boat and come downstairs with me," Phoebe leaned across the railing.

"Aye aye matey,"

I scooped Phoebe up in my arms and carried her to the cabin below. She squealed as I ran down the stairs and into one of the back rooms. I threw her onto the bed and began to strip, not wanting to waste any time.


	17. Chapter 16

**Blaine's POV:**

"That's who you cheated on?" Matt stood in the doorway of the conference room.

This was our first meeting with Damien's company and my boss thought it would be a good idea for me to come as a "familiar face". Phoebe was standing next to Damien, the two of them deep in discussion. She was wearing a lacey light blue dress and black heels. Her hair was curled and in a half ponytail. My eyes traveled down her body and Damien looked up to glare at me. I never told Phoebe about Damien's offer, I was keeping it in my back pocket if he ever tried to cross me again.

"I didn't cheat on her for the last time," I shoved him away.

Damien walked over to where I was standing, Phoebe on his heels, "Blaine."

"Damien."

Phoebe stepped in front of him and gave me a hug, "Hey."

I kept my eyes trained on Damien who was trying his best to keep his face neutral. To annoy him even more, I kept the hug going a lot longer than needed.

"You look tan," I pulled away.

"We just came back from Lake George," Phoebe grabbed Damien's arm, "It was beautiful."

Matt held his hand out to Phoebe, "I'm Matt by the way."

"I'm Phoebe," she smiled, "This is my fiancé Damien."

An older version of Damien stood up from his seat at the head of the table and across from him stood my boss, Rick. Rick waved me and Matt over to the rest of our team. I sat beside my boss, watching Phoebe and Damien on the other side of the table.

"He has it out for you," Matt whispered to me.

"Stop your gossiping," Rick intercepted, "We're here to do business."

Rick was a no nonsense kind of man. He served in the military and worked as a computer analyst for the FBI then the CIA. I looked up to him and loved working for his company. He used his military skills to build the company from the ground up and typically employed ex-military men and women.

"I want to welcome you gentlemen to our company," Damien's twin began, "I believe that we can do great things together. I'm entrusting you with not only my company, but my family as well. We expect nothing but the best from you."

Matt scoffed and Rick silenced him with a glare. The rest of the meeting listed out the guidelines of the contract, everything seemed okay. Our pay was the most that we had ever earned on a job. Beside me, I could feel Matt getting excited at all of the zeros. Mr. Zano concluded the meeting and asked Rick to follow him into his office.

"I told you the contract was legit," Phoebe grinned, "We're going to be business partners."

I tried to be as happy as she was, but I could not help sensing that Damien had an ulterior motive. When Rick pulled me into his office and let me know what was going on, I knew that something was up. We were a good business, all of our customers left great reviews, but we were not the best company in the city. Damien was up to something and I needed to find out what.

"Why don't you show Blaine around?" Damien added to my suspicion.

"Why, what're you doing?" Phoebe frowned.

"I need to talk to my dad for a sec. I'll be right back," he kissed her before following Rick and Mr. Zano out of the conference room.

Phoebe's eyes trailed Damien until he was out of distance. I knew Phoebe and I knew that she was not going to let this rest. Our eyes met and she knew that I could see right through her. She tried her best to cover it up and failed.

"I'll show you our gym," Phoebe led us to the elevator.

She gave us a tour of the building, answering all of Matt's insane questions along the way. We ended up in the cafeteria in line with everyone else for hibachi.

"I wish we had a cafeteria in our building," Matt stood in line.

Phoebe laughed, "We have a state of the art, complementary kitchen for anyone works for us, fitness gym, valet parking, free massages once a week, and we're working on an onsite daycare."

"The only other place like this is Grey Enterprise and Google," I said.

Phoebe nodded, "Damien's dad took a few ideas from the Grey handbook after I was hired."

"Must be nice."

"There are more good days than bad ones."

We grabbed our tray of food and sat down at one of the tables. Phoebe had to stop at least a dozen of times to say hello to people within the company. Clearly she was well-liked and it was not just because she was the boss's fiancée. In fact, no one mentioned Damien at all.

"Seems like high school all over again," I sat down beside Phoebe.

"You're just jealous because everyone liked me and thought you were the creep you liked to lurk in the shadows."

Matt laughed, "Really?"

"It wasn't like that at all; Phoebe likes to exaggerate."

"Blaine was my bodyguard and no one knew so they all thought it was weird that he would always follow me around."

We were interrupted by Rick coming through the doors. He was expression was stormy as he reached us.

"We're leaving."

"Is everything alright Mr. Mancuso?" Phoebe stood up.

Rick was known for letting his anger get to the best of him at work. He and I had had our fair share of arguments that have led to blows being thrown, but I had never seen him this upset. Matt gave me a look signaling that we should get going before things became worse.

"There are just things we need to take care of at the office. Please excuse us," Rick's smile was tight.

I gave Phoebe a hug before following Rick and Matt to the car. Rick was quiet during the entire ride and locked himself inside of his office for the rest of the day. I had my own small office in the building right next to Matt and another coworker named Noah. Photos of Caden were scattered across any open space, a constant reminder of who I was doing this for. Elizabeth knocked on my door and let herself in. We had been spending more time together after our first date; I liked being around her.

"So how was the meeting?" Elizabeth sat across from me.

"It was okay, great for the company."

She played with the pen in front of her, "And how was seeing Phoebe?"

Elizabeth was a smart girl. She never asked about Phoebe and I was thankful for that. Elizabeth knew that Phoebe and I had a complicated past, but never asked me to elaborate on anything. I had enough other people always asking questions about her that I did not need to add another person to the mix. I wanted to start something new with Elizabeth and needed to keep my feelings for Phoebe aside.

"She showed me and Matt around the office."

"Cool," Elizabeth bit her lip, "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"Of course," I smiled at her, "Caden's excited that you're coming with us."

I wanted to take Caden to this new indoor bounce center tonight and invited Elizabeth to come with us. If things were going to become any more serious between us, I wanted to see how Caden would react.

"Can't wait," Elizabeth gave me a peck on the cheek then walked out of my office.

 **Damien's POV:**

I didn't even bother to knock on my father's office before walking in. Blaine's boss, Rick, sat across from my father looking over his nondisclosure agreement. My father had our lawyers create a binding contract for Rick and only Rick because my father thought the fewer amount of people who knew about this deal, the better.

"You want me to do what?" Rick snapped, "I don't know what kind of business you think I run, but I will not be part of this."

My father stayed calm, "You have three daughters in college and a wife that will miss you very much if anything were even to happen to you. This contract protects not only you, but them as well. I will make sure that they're taken care of if anything were to happen to you."

"You think that I haven't been bribed before? You're not the first multibillionaire dick who's tried to bribe me?"

"Remember you forced me to do this," my father opened his desk drawer, "I want you to think back to a time when you were working undercover as a CIA and fell in love with a Ms. Isabella Cozzo. She was the daughter of one of the mob families that you took down. The two of you had a child together, a son who is now a member of your team."

Rick stood up from his chair, "You bastard."

"No, that's what your children will call their new stepbrother once they find out. I tried to do this the nice way and it was you that made me have to blackmail you into doing what I need. I have other files, I like to do my background checks on everyone I work with."

It was my turn to step in, "Rick, we just need you to make documents untraceable and get some information on our competitors."

"And if I refuse to do it?"

"Then prepare for war," my father said, "A war that will have you begging me to take you back and I won't because this is a onetime deal."

Rick knew he was defeated, it showed all over his face, "Okay."

"Pleasure doing business with you," my father dismissed him.

I waited until the door closed before saying anything, "That was a little harsh, even for you."

"You need to stop being so naïve and learn what I'm teaching you. This is a company, not a social club. We don't work to make friends, we work to make money."

"So you purposely hired Blaine's company in hopes of his boss allowing you to use his company just because of Phoebe?"

My father sat back in his chair, "Who better to blame if anything happens? Scapegoats work out for a reason."

I was seeing another side of my father and I did not like it all. I was not good at lying to Phoebe and my father was putting me in this position.

"I may be naïve, but I would never purposely sabotage someone the way you just did."

"You just don't get it do you?" my father questioned, "You came into this company because of everything that was done before you. You want to make money, but don't want to get your hands dirty. You have no problem taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from me yet somehow act like you're better than me. You're doing what you're doing because you love Phoebe and what I'm doing is no different. I'm not going to have this conversation with you again. Either get with the program or leave."

I avoided Phoebe for the rest of the day. Thankfully I had meetings around town that kept me from having to figure out excuses to why I was avoiding her. Later that night Phoebe was waiting up for me in our bedroom.

"What did you guys say to Rick?" she muted the television, "And don't give me that 'I don't know what you're talking about bullshit' because I know that you're lying."

"We had to renegotiate some terms."

"Like?"

I undid my tie, "I'm exhausted, can we talk about this later?"

"Sure, no problem," Phoebe stood up and gathered some pillows.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not going anywhere," she handed me the pillows, "You are."

She was being ridiculous, "What?"

"I'm not going to sleep in bed with a liar and since I'm not the one lying I don't think I should be the one that has to sleep somewhere else."

"You're acting crazy, I just told you what we did!"

"No," she shook her head, "You're lying to me and until you feel that you can be honest with me, you shouldn't sleep in the bed with me. I swear to god if this has anything to do with Blaine and I find out I'm going to be pissed."

Blaine, Blaine, Blaine, Blaine. I was going to rip my hair out if I heard his name again. There was no point in arguing. We had taken different turns sleeping in different rooms before. I slammed the door behind me like a child, vowing to curse my father out for putting me in this position in the first place.


	18. Chapter 17

**Damien's POV:**

I took my frustration out on the punching bag my trainer was holding for me. Phoebe still was not talking to me and left for work early this morning before I even woke up. I wanted to have lunch with her, but she had dodged me all day at the office too. She was being immature and pissing me off, something she was great at doing.

"Fiancée troubles?" he held the bag as still as he could.

"You could say that," I continued to pretend that the bag was Blaine's face.

Phoebe would never forgive if I really fought Blaine, so the punching bag would have to do.

At work, my first stop was my father's office. It was his fault this was all happening and he deserved to be in as much trouble as I was.

"You need to fix this," I stormed into my father's office.

He glared up at me from his phone, "I'll call you back. Hello son, what was so goddamn important that you had to barge into my office like a madman?"

"You're plan of blackmailing Blaine's boss is interfering with my relationship with Phoebe."

"What do I have to do with your relationship? Why can't you fix it yourself?"

My father was never good with relationships, hence why he was married four times. I don't think his current wife even likes him, she just likes what he can give her. They rarely saw each other and slept in different rooms in the house, yet somehow managed to look like a happy couple for the photographers. I was not close with Stepmother Number Four and rarely saw her myself besides for company events.

"I can't lie to my fiancée, we don't have that type of relationship."

"So tell her," my father shrugged.

"She'll leave me!"

My father sighed, "Then don't tell her, I don't know what you want me to say. I'm not a therapist whatever you do in your relationship is your business."

Oliver stuck his head into my father's office, "Mr. Mancuso is on line two."

"Sometimes I wish he was my son," my father said, "He doesn't cause me as much grief as you do with your constant complaining."

Being my father's only child, I was forever hearing how he wished that he had another child. Growing up, hearing my father say that used to hurt me, not anymore. It grew old real fast, especially since I always wished that I had another father. I was the product of Wife Number Two and my father. My mother had her own personal wealth and did not rely on my father for anything. I loved my mother and could never understand what she saw in my father. She didn't either.

"The feelings' mutual," I slammed his office door shut.

Oliver looked up from his computer and shook his head. He had grown used to hearing and seeing my father argue; it was part of his job.

"Have you seen Phoebe today?" I asked him.

Oliver and Phoebe's friendship became useful to me at times like these. I knew that Oliver was one of Phoebe's best friends and I would sometimes use him as Intel on her.

"No way," Oliver's eyebrows rose, "I'm not getting in the middle of this argument."

"I know that you know Oliver, just tell me what she knows."

"You know that I can't do that."

I leaned over his desk and gave him my most charming smile, "Come on Ollie."

"Phoebe said that you would try to use your charm on me, now I owe her twenty bucks."

"So you've seen her today," I tried to get him to talk, "Where is she?"

"Haven't seen her since lunch," Oliver lied.

I knew the two of them saw each other a lot more than that, "I'm your boss."

"You're really using the boss card?"

"If I have to."

Oliver was more like a younger brother to me, who happened to like checking out my butt whenever I walked by, but still a younger brother. Even before he became Phoebe's best friend, he was at all of our family parties. My father cared for Oliver, especially since he did not have a family of his own.

"Your father needs copies," he stood up, "Good luck on your relationship."

Great, now Oliver was mad at me.

 **Phoebe's POV:**

I ignored another call from Damien and turned my attention back to Blithe. All day, my phone was flooded with apologetic text messages. Damien had sent flowers to my office, I gave them to my assistant. Blithe and I were having dinner and waiting for our meals to come.

"Are you coming to my mom's grand opening tomorrow night?" Blithe picked up a piece of bread from the bowl.

I had forgotten that I promised Abby that I would be there, "Of course."

"You totally forgot," Blithe grinned, "That's alright, just bring that hot fiancé of yours and you'll be forgiven."

"He won't be coming."

"Uh oh, trouble in paradise?"

I did not care that Blithe was Blaine's sister, I still confided in her as if nothing changed. She was unbiased and never tried to push me back with Blaine, unlike Meredith and Abby. I knew that Abby was just looking out for Blaine, it just made it hard to talk about anything Damien related with her.

"Damien is just being stupid and insecure."

I did not want to talk about business with Blithe, especially if I did not have any proof of what Damien was doing.

"The two of you will work whatever it is out and then go back to being totally in love. Where the fuck is our food?" Blithe looked around, "I'm about to eat all of my weight in this bread."

Blithe of course was exaggerating. She looked absolutely flawless in her work attire and many of the men in the room kept stealing glances at her. Blithe liked to act like they were looking at me. Our waiter finally brought our food over. I listened to Blithe tell me about her dating life and felt relieved that I did not have to deal with that anymore. By the end of the night, we were full and a little drunk.

"I love eating with you, I always get free things," Blithe hugged me as O'Keefe held the door open for her.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

As O'Keefe drove me back to my apartment, I told him to take the long way. I was doing a good job avoiding Damien and I wanted it to last. Darcy's picture lit up my phone, causing me to smile.

"I'm baaaaaack!" Darcy sang into the phone.

I missed talking to her, "How was the honeymoon?"

"You mean fantastic sex day and night?" Darcy giggled, "It was perfect. I can't wait until you get married."

" _If_ I get married."

"I've been gone for two weeks and you've already ended your engagement?"

"Don't start Darce," I was too tired to get into an argument with her over Damien, "How did Charlie react to the news?"

She snorted, "Why do you think we had the best sex of our lives? He was over the moon. All he could talk about were baby names and signing up for pre-schools. I couldn't even tune him out by drinking."

I wished that Damien had the same reaction when I told him that I wanted a baby. I was jealous of my best friend and I hated myself for it.

"I'm happy for you guys," I tried my best to sound convincing.

"All we need is for the two of you to get your shit together and have a baby so that our kids can grow up together and be best friends."

"That would only happen if the two of you move to New York."

Darcy was silent for the first time in her life.

"YOU'RE MOVING TO NEW YORK?"

She erupted into laughter, "We decided after the wedding."

It felt like it had been forever since Darcy and I lived on the same coast. I wish that we were in the same room so that I could hug her. I missed having easy access to my best friend.

"When?" I became excited, "Omigod, where are you guys going to live?"

"We're trying to sell the apartment before looking at places. We've been looking at apartments in Queens and Brooklyn, nothing is set yet. Charlie obviously wants everything done before the baby comes and my father is helping us out."

"Whatever you need me to do, I'm in. I can go look at apartments for you whenever you want. I'll take tons of pictures and send them to you."

"Calm down," Darcy said, "One step at a time. We haven't even sold the apartment yet."

She was right, it did not mean that I could not be happy though. We talked the rest of the way home, planning what else needed to be done. When O'Keefe pulled up to the apartment, I groaned. He was not dumb, he knew that I was avoiding going back. I had called him early this morning to pick me a lot earlier than I usually did. I told him that I wanted to workout before work and had other errands to run. O'Keefe had been around long enough to know whenever Damien and I were arguing.

I tried to be as quiet as possible entering the apartment, but Batman and Robin gave me away. They waited for me every day by the door to get back from wherever I was coming from. I could hear Damien in his office talking on the phone then pause once he heard the dogs barking. He did not come to the door so I walked upstairs to our bedroom. I began stripping myself of my work clothes so that I could get in the shower and go to bed.

"Jesus," I jumped as Damien stood in the doorway.

"Sorry."

I continued taking off my jewelry and clothes, pointedly ignoring Damien's presence even though I could feel his eyes follow my movements.

"Where've you been?" Damien questioned.

"I had dinner with Blithe. I didn't think you would be home."

"I left the office early so that we could talk."

"I'm too drunk to talk," I lied.

"Good, then you'll listen," Damien sat down on the bed, "There are some things that I can't tell you when it comes to the business. I know you think that I'm doing this because of Blaine, but I signed confidentiality agreements."

"And these agreements just happen to be with Blaine's boss? I'm not stupid Damien."

"I never said that you were, it doesn't mean that I can tell you though. I know Blaine has been a sore topic in the past between us and I'm trying to not let him get to me anymore. I hate having to work with him, but I can't change it. My father and Blaine's boss already signed the contracts which means that I'm going to have to see him a lot more than I want to. I don't want to spend the rest of our lives arguing with you every time it comes to him. I'm trying here Pheebs, I really am."

I looked Damien in the eye and he seemed genuine, "Okay."

"Okay as in I get to sleep in the bed tonight or okay is in you're getting ready to tell me to fuck off?"

"Okay as in you get to sleep in Batman's spot tonight."

"I love you," Damien pulled me to him, "I don't want our relationship jeopardized over this."

"It won't be," I promised, "I don't want to have this same argument with you again."

"We won't."


	19. Chapter 18

**Phoebe's POV:**

"I never thought that I'd find Phoebe Grey behind a desk," Teddy walked into my office.

He looked like the spitting image of my father in his business suit.

"What're you doing here?" I jumped out of my chair to hug him.

Even though we lived in the same city, it was hard trying to find time to see one another. I was hoping now that we moved back that we would see more of each other. Teddy and Gwen came to see us in London a couple of times and now that we were back, they still have not been to the new apartment.

"I had a meeting a couple of blocks from here and thought that I'd stop by. Gwen and I are still waiting for our invitation to come look at the new apartment."

They were not the only ones. I wanted to have a housewarming party, but with everything going on it was hard to find the perfect time.

"You'll be the first ones invited to the housewarming party," I promised.

"Mom has been dying to throw you a housewarming party. She wants to fly to town with dad and have everyone over."

My mother had turned into quite the party planner, I think she used it as a way to stay relevant in our lives. She wanted grandkids and was the one pushing for a wedding. For some reason she never pressured Gwen and I was jealous of that. I knew that my mother was already planning my wedding and she found ways of slipping anything relating to the wedding whenever we talked on the phone. I was used to my father being overbearing, now her.

"Of course she does. Why can't you and Gwen just have kids so that she'll leave me alone?" I walked back over to my desk chair.

"Don't even go there. Let mom plan the party and then she'll be out of your hair until the two of you finally set a wedding date," Teddy sat down across from me, "What's taking you so long?"

Thankfully I did not have to answer because Oliver walked into my office.

"If it isn't the two best siblings in America."

"Hey Oliver," Teddy waved.

"What brings you downtown?" Oliver laid down on my couch.

Teddy stood, "I'm trying to force my sister to have a housewarming party. Convince her, she listens to you."

"I'm starting to think this new fabulous apartment doesn't exist because I haven't been invited to it yet. It's either really ugly or you're hiding an escaped fugitive because the Phoebe that I know would never keep her best friend from seeing her posh new apartment."

"Alright, alright," I gave in, "I'll have a housewarming party! You're going to have to come up with my guest list Oliver because I have no clue who to invite. I want something small."

Oliver grinned, "Told you that it'd work."

I glared at him, he was supposed to be on my side. Teddy and Oliver ignored my look of annoyance and continued to talk like long lost friends. Teddy's phone rung in his suit pocket and he held the phone to my face to show me a picture of my mother.

"She's in," Teddy said on the phone, "She said something small though."

"Excuse me, some of us have to work."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "Yeah right. Call Gwen, she's been asking about you."

I watched Teddy walk out of my office and sighed. I had gone this far without having a housewarming party and it was long overdue. Oliver, the traitor, was probably already texting everyone their invites.

"Let's get lunch, I'm hungry," I stood up.

Oliver and I ate downstairs cafeteria in our usual spot.

"So who're you bringing to your, I mean _my_ housewarming party."

"No one likes a sore loser," he cut his chicken up before taking a bite, "I haven't been on a date in weeks. Damien's father has been keeping me here until almost midnight every night working on this stupid project. I'm riding solo so if you have any other good looking gay friends I'll be sure to invite them."

Damien and his father shared a work ethic that benefited no one except the two of them.

"I can't wait for whatever they're working on to be done."

Damien was constantly bringing home work again and instead of complaining, I tried helping him. We had been doing great since our last argument and I did not want to jinx it. These past few nights involved less arguing and more sex or cuddling.

"Are you going to invite Blaine?"

Blaine and I were on good terms as friends and I wanted him to be there, but it was not just about what I wanted. I could understand if Damien did not want him there, it just sucked.

"I don't know. It'll be weird if I invite his stepmom and his sisters and not him. I know Damien won't like it and he's really been trying to accept Blaine so I don't want to push him."

Oliver rolled his eyes, "Poor you. There are two great looking guys fighting over you, life must be so hard."

"I'm serious," I laughed, "I just think that it would be good for everybody if Blaine wasn't there."

"It's not my relationship and I'm partially biased because I've known Damien longer, but I don't think you should. Damien is sucking up his ego for you. He hated seeing you like that after you and Blaine broke up. He was always coming to my desk asking me if it was finally the right time to ask you out."

Oliver was right, we both knew it.

"Alright, no Blaine, but I'm still inviting his sisters and Abby. They would kill me if I didn't invite them to the party."

Blithe, Oliver, and I had gone out for drinks together a few times and we always had fun. They were my two single friends who kept me informed about today's dating world. After lunch I was busy with making sure everything was set for the next publication.

At the end of the day, Batman and Robin welcomed me at the front door, barking with excitement. I was exhausted, but happy to see them; they were my kids.

"Hello my babies," I picked them up, "How about a walk?"

My evenings were usually spent with them until Damien came home and this night was no different. I was soaking in the bathtub when Damien opened the bathroom door.

"Room for one more?"

I moved forward to make room for him as he stripped.

"How was your day?" I leaned back into his chest.

I heard him sigh, "No work talk, this is the first moment that I've been able to relax all day. I must've been overworking myself because I could have sworn that I saw Teddy in the building."

"He came to visit me today," I played with our hands, "What do you think of having a housewarming party?"

"I feel like my opinion isn't really going to matter. Since when do you want a housewarming party?"

Shrugging, I sat up, "My mom wants to throw us one and I think we should let her. Plus, think of all of the gifts we'll get."

Damien knew there was no point in arguing, it was an argument that would end up with him losing. He pretty much allowed me to do what I wanted—within reason and I loved him for it. Plus, if it made my mother love him even more, he was all for it.

"I have to go to London for a couple of days next week, but when I get back we can."

"My mother will be so happy," I kissed him on the lips, "Who should we invite?"

He shook his head, "My contribution to the party will be my checkbook. I'll have my assistant send over a few names from the company and that's it. Whatever else you and your mom can pick out, I have complete faith in your party planning capabilities."

"Is this how you're going to be when we get married?"

"Of course not. A house planning party is not even close to being on the same level as the wedding of the decade. I told you, I plan on being married only once and I want the wedding to be perfect."

"You're no fun," I pouted.

"That's what I have you for," he stood up from the tub, "I need to go to sleep, I have an early meeting tomorrow."

 **Blaine's POV:**

"And now I introduce to you the new and improved," Abby grinned, "Abby's World!"

Music blasted from the newly installed speakers and Abby jumped in excitement. This place was just like her – loud yet lovable. I would have gone for more subtle paint colors, but Abby wanted the place to match her personality. She had inherited the gym from its previous owners and now that she was able to make the place into how she envisioned it, she was happy. My father leaned down to kiss her, seeming genuinely happy and proud of her. Caden clapped in my arms and tried to jump up and catch the confetti. Heather stood by my side, talking with Elizabeth. The two of them got along surprisingly well which made everything easier on me. My real problem was Phoebe. Phoebe came solo to Abby's opening and stood near Blithe on the other side of the room from me. We made eye contact earlier, but neither one of us had attempted to talk to one another.

I watched Phoebe hug Abby. My father and Phoebe gave each other a small smile, nothing compared to the hug that she gave Abby. I knew that he was happy to no longer have to pretend to like Phoebe.

"Are you going to go say hi?" Heather asked over the music.

"Not right now."

Phoebe was the one who made the first move towards us. I tried to think of her in a friend way and not check her out. Once Phoebe reached us, she gave me a hug.

"I'm glad you could make it," I said.

Her eyes shifted towards Elizabeth, "Hi, I'm Phoebe."

"This is," I paused not knowing what to call Elizabeth.

We had been on a few dates and definitely liked each other, I just did not know if we were official or labeling what we were. Elizabeth waited for me to finish my sentence, but I did not know what to say.

"I'm Elizabeth," she held her hand out to Phoebe, "It's nice to finally meet you."

Phoebe smiled back at her, "Nice to meet you too."

"No Damien tonight?"

"He's in London," Phoebe said, "He really wished that he could be here."

Right.

"I'm going to go say hi to your grandparents," Phoebe excused herself.

My grandparents always liked Phoebe and I knew they were happy to see her again.

"She's very pretty," Elizabeth said as Phoebe walked away.

"I know, but I think you're prettier," I kissed her, "Much prettier."

She rolled her eyes, "You're such a terrible liar, but I like that about you."

"Let's go congratulate Abby," I changed the conversation.

Abby wrapped her arms around me, "I'm so happy that you're here!"

"I'm really happy for you Abs," I kissed her cheek, "This place is great."

Elizabeth and Abby hugged, leaving me to deal with my father.

My father pulled me aside, "Is it really a good idea for Phoebe to be here?"

"Abby wanted her here, I didn't invite her if that's what you're implying."

Our families needed to leave us alone. I know what we put them through, but we were at a different point of our lives now. Phoebe was with Damien and I was with Elizabeth, why did everyone have to keep bringing up the past?

"I'm not implying anything," my father straightened, "I just want you to be careful, you have Caden to think about now."

"Thanks for reminding me, I forgot I had a son."

"That's not what I meant, you just forget to think clearly whenever she's around."

"She" being Phoebe.

"Well I'm so lucky to have you here to constantly remind me."

Abby tried to stop me from leaving, but I sidestepped her. She would only take my father's side and that was not what I needed to hear right now. I needed a break from the party and made my way up to the roof for fresh air. I wanted something to keep my mind off of what was going on downstairs, it was moments like these that I wish that I could be passed out drunk again.

"Is everything alright?" Phoebe closed the door behind her.

I laughed, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Don't push me away, what's wrong?"

"You being here is complicating things."

Phoebe frowned, "I'm sorry that me being here is causing trouble for you, but I'm here for Abby."

"Then why are you up here with me?"

"I thought we were friends."

Annoyance built up inside of me, "How can we be friends when everyone wants to bring up our past every time we get in a room together? We're different people now, why can't they see that?"

"We ruined each other, but we ruined those around us too."

She was right and I hated to admit that. My family was the one who kept me from falling apart after Phoebe left. They were the ones who saw me nearly self-destruct –twice and put me back together again. The second time was easier because I had Caden to keep me going, not like the first time Phoebe left.

"I just need some air, I'll be back down in a minute."

Phoebe walked over to where I was standing, "I'll wait with you."

Neither one of us said anything for a while and it was nice. We stood watching the cars and people down below, letting others do the talking for us.

"I wish you were still in London."

Phoebe turned to look at me, "What?"

"When you were in London I didn't have to see you or think about what you were doing. Now I work for you and having to see you all the time isn't as easy as I thought it would be," I admitted, "How is it so easy for you?"

"It's not," I heard her swallow, "I don't let it get to me though. I tell myself that we've both changed and the people we changed into are two different people than we used to know."

"Are we that different?"

The wind blew Phoebe's hair around, "I like to think that we are."

"I missed you when you were gone."

She was quiet for a second, "I missed you too."

"Then why didn't you call?"

"What would be the point of calling? You had Caden to take care of and calling would only make things more complicated. I loved living in London and you had a life here that didn't include me."

"It could have!"

This was not how I wanted our conversation to go, but I was tired of keeping all of these emotions bottled up.

"I asked you to stay with me, but you said no."

Phoebe shook her head, "Do you honestly think I was ready to be a stepmother to Caden?"

"You never tried."

"I'm going to go back inside," Phoebe walked away.

"I loved you!" I yelled at her, "I would've done anything for you, but none of that mattered, did it? You chose someone who could give you all the things that you wanted."

"So now I'm a gold digger?" Phoebe turned towards me, "I'm with Damien because I love him."

"You love him as much as you loved me?" I challenged her.

"Yes."

She was lying and we both knew it. I needed her to change her mind and finally realize that we were meant to be together. My hands pulled her body towards mine. I did not care about anything in that moment, all I needed was Phoebe. Our tongues intertwined and we both moaned. I missed how she tasted, she was intoxicating. I didn't want to pull away and I wouldn't have if I didn't need air.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Phoebe and I jumped away from each other. My father stood near the entrance leading back downstairs. His face was reddening as he observed me and Phoebe.

"I think you should go Ms. Grey."

Phoebe said nothing as she ran past my father. My mouth was too frozen to call for her.

"You need to clean yourself up before going back downstairs. This is Abby's night so stop thinking with your dick for once and use that brain of yours. She's engaged Blaine, you work for her fiancé!"

"Dad, I love her."

My father stared at me, "You have five minutes."

He shut the door behind him.


	20. Chapter 19

**Blaine's POV:**

*Flashback to two years ago*

I stood outside the airport, anxiously waiting for Phoebe's car to pull up. She was leaving today and this was my last chance to get her to listen. I felt like a stalker with my hood pulled up as I waited. Airport security had been watching me closely for the last twenty minutes to make sure I was not the next Unabomber. Unfortunately, I was not the only person waiting for Phoebe to arrive. Paparazzi littered the curb, ready to pounce the moment when Phoebe arrived.

Sean was the one who told me that she was moving to London and if I wanted to talk to her, this was my last chance. I knew Phoebe was here when the paparazzi began snapping photos. O'Keefe pulled up to the curb and Phoebe stepped out, but she was not alone. Her new boss, Derek I think his name is, climbed out of the car after her. There was a smile on her face, she had not noticed me yet. Derek leaned in to kiss Phoebe and she did not pull away, instead she brought him closer to her. My hands clenched in my pocket as the paparazzi's cameras only went wilder as the two of them continued to kiss.

"Ms. Grey, does this mean that you called off your engagement to Blaine?"

"Ms. Grey, what does your father think about you moving to London?"

"Ms. Grey, are you and Damien Zano an official couple now?"

I hailed a taxi so I did not have to watch anymore. This was supposed to be my chance to win Phoebe back and it was over before it even started.

It had been almost a full two weeks since Phoebe left for London and I had not gotten out of bed since. Heather understood, she was the one who encouraged me to go to the airport and was now regretting her advice. I had called into work, claiming Caden was sick, having a child had its perks.

The door to my bedroom opened and I did not bother to look to see who it was. Different people had been called to get me out of bed. First it had been Abby and Blithe, who were sympathetic and supportive. Then, Meredith stopped by. My father never came over. Sean had been over every day since Phoebe had left and now he was bringing in the big guns. Heather had taken Caden out for a walk and promised to bring food back for me. She had been supportive during all of this, especially with taking care of Caden.

"You need to get up," I heard my father's voice as he pulled the covers away from me, "Your son needs his father."

I did not feel the cold anymore, not since Phoebe left. Truth be told, I did not feel anything anymore.

"Heather has him."

"Come on man," Sean stood next to my father, "You have to get out of bed."

"What's the point?"

There was no point to all of this. Phoebe was in London with someone else and I was here in New York.

"The point is that I'm going to literally kick your ass until you get out of bed and start acting like a father."

"Like you did when mom died?"

I heard my father sigh, "Phoebe isn't dead, she just left you, again. She isn't coming back and the sooner you realize that, the better father you will be. We've been trying to understand, but this is getting old. You need to get up, shower, and eat a real meal. Let's go to a bar or something to get your mind off of things."

I was in no mood to go to a bar, let alone with my father.

"Close the door behind you," I turned away from them.

My bedroom door did not open again until later in the evening. I had fallen asleep while searching the internet for photos of Phoebe and Damien in London. The paparazzi loved them over there. She looked good, happy, really happy.

"Someone wanted to see their daddy," Heather laid Caden next to me.

Caden, now five months old, began to roll. I looked down at my son and only felt sadness, I did not want him to see me like this. I was in a dark place and whenever I looked at Caden, all I felt was hatred. How could a father hate his own son? It wasn't his fault, none of this was.

"Please take him," I begged Heather.

She shook her head, "No."

"I can't see him right now."

"Babies have a way of making people happier. Caden loves and misses you. Yesterday he told me how much he missed going on walks with you."

"He can't talk."

"If he could, you know what he would say?" Heather did not wait for my response, "He would say that you're failing him as a father. I thought you wanted to be a good dad to your son and right now you aren't. I'm sorry Blaine, but Phoebe is gone and she isn't coming back. She's in London, you saw her go to London with another man!"

"Get out," I said between clenched teeth.

This was her fault just as much as it was mine. I did not want to see or talk to anyone right now. I needed another nap and a few beers. Heather started towards the door empty handed.

"Wait, take Caden!"

She slammed the door behind her. Caden began to fuss next to me, I picked him up and held him in my arms. Heather must have just given him a bath because he smelled like baby powder and oatmeal. I rocked Caden as he began to cry, trying to do anything to get him to smile again.

"Please don't cry little guy," I heard my voice crack, "Please don't cry."

Caden's cries only became louder as I attempted to soothe him, Heather was better at this.

"Heather!" I yelled.

She never came back.

 **Phoebe's POV:**

*Flashback to two years ago*

"So do you like it?" Damien asked as we stood in his empty apartment.

Damien's three-bedroom, three bathroom loft had a gorgeous view of the city lights. We were both staying in a hotel as we waited for our separate apartments to be furnished. Damien did not like to do anything half-assed, so it only made sense why he would choose such a luxurious loft.

I could not understand why he would need such a big space to himself, but nodded, "It's really nice."

"Nice enough for you to move in with me?"

This was not his first attempt to get me to move in with him, he had tried practically every day in New York. Now that we were in London, I thought that things would be different. Our relationship was new, very new, and I did not want to jeopardize it by moving in together so soon. I made that mistake once already.

"Damien, we talked about this. I thought that we were going to take things slow."

Damien wrapped his arms around my waist, "We have been taking it slow! Why should we have two separate apartments in London when we were doing that in New York? We spend practically every second together already and think about how much money and time we'd be saving by living together. If it'll make you feel any better, we can sleep in different rooms until you're ready."

"It's not the rooming that's bothering me. I'm still in the process of selling the old apartment in New York and now to move into a totally new environment is a lot to handle. Do you really want to be one of those annoying couples that works and lives together and never makes time for anyone else?"

"Who cares about anyone else? I want you to move in with me," Damien kissed me, "In fact, I insist that you move in with me. If you don't, I'll call your mother who is going to force you to."

My mother already loved Damien. Since the breakup, she was happy that I was not lying in bed depressed. The breakup with Blaine had been hard at first, but being with Damien changed things. He made me laugh when I was in a dark place after the breakup, kept me busy, he listened, and talked with me. Of course my parents wanted to meet the man that kept me from sinking into depression. When I finally told them what happened, my mother washed her hands with Blaine for good.

"Don't you dare," I pulled away from him, "We're going to be here for a long time, why are you rushing into this?"

"Is it a crime to want to move in with my beautiful, smart, and talented girlfriend? I thought it was supposed to be the girlfriend that begs her boyfriend to take the next step in their relationship. Most girls would kill to tame one of New York's most eligible bachelors."

"You know I want to be with you, but you're pushing me for something that I'm not ready for. Not even six months ago was I planning to move in with Blaine and now you think that I can just flip the switch?"

"I'm not Blaine," Damien became serious, "I know you don't like talking about him, but I'm not him. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what. I wouldn't ask you to move to London with me if I didn't want this to be a long-term relationship."

Damien had been patient, I still needed time to process all of this.

"I'm jetlagged still, I'm going to go back to my hotel room."

He nodded, "Alright."

"I'll see you later," I kissed his cheek and headed towards the door.

Outside, O'Keefe sat waiting for me in the town car. He stepped out of the car once he saw me leave the apartment building. I was happy to be in London and even happier when O'Keefe agreed to come with me.

"How was the apartment?" O'Keefe opened my door.

"Confusing."

O'Keefe, who was used to my relationship drama by now, only shook his head, "He's persistent, I'll give him that."

"Who do you like better?" I leaned forward in my seat.

"Not part of my job description to pick out which one of your boyfriend's I like better, my job is to protect you and drive you around."

Huffing, I sat back, "You're my only friend here, I need advice."

O'Keefe's solution was to turn up the radio. Later that night I called Darcy to tell her about Damien's proposition.

"He's a psychopath," she blurted.

I laughed, "You don't even know him."

"Whose fault is that? You moved to an entirely new continent with a man that I was not able to approve. I thought he was supposed to be a rebound fuck to get over Blaine."

"Darce," I warned her.

"Sorry, sorry," she backtracked, "I forgot we weren't supposed to mention that lying son of a bitch's name."

This was why Darcy is my best friend, "Damien isn't wrong, it would make sense for us to move in together, and maybe I'm just looking for something wrong with our relationship."

Darcy stayed silence.

"Darce?"

"Oh sorry, now you want my opinion? As your best friend who has yet to meet the guy you moved across the pond for, I say go for it. If he hasn't shown any crazy, psychopathic signs yet then I say that you've found yourself a good guy."

"You're right."

I could hear her roll her eyes from over the phone, "Of course I'm right, I'm always right."

"I'll let you believe that. I need to shower and eat, I'll talk to you later."

Now that I was fresh and clean, I was finally able to think clearly. I was dragging my feet with Damien because of Blaine. I could not handle it if Damien broke my heart like Blaine did. Damien was my redemption from all of my past mistakes. He was the perfect guy for me and I was not giving him the chance to prove himself.

There was a knock on my hotel door and I groaned, I just wanted this day to end. Damien stood on the other side of the door, looking sheepish yet adorable.

"I'm sorry," Damien had a bouquet of almost every type of flowers in his hands, "You have every right to want to take things slow and I'm sorry for pushing you."

"Come in," I opened the door wider for him.

Damien closed the door behind him, "I realized that I didn't know your favorite flower so I bought everything they had."

"Hydrangeas for future reference," I sat on my bed.

He took the hydrangeas from the bouquet and handed them to me, "I knew you weren't a rose kind of girl. I want you to know that I'm absolutely crazy about you and I find myself losing my mind around you. If it were anyone else, I couldn't even imagine moving in with them this soon. I love spending time with you and would rather us move in together whenever you're ready, then risk ending what we have. You need time and space, I just hope that doesn't mean time and space away from us."

"Of course not," I told him, "I don't move to an entirely different continent if I wanted to break up. I just need you to understand when I say that I can't rush into things again. You're too important to me."

"I'm glad we can at least agree on that," Damien kissed me, "Am I forgiven?"

My answer was to pull him down to the bed with me.


	21. Chapter 20

**I'm sorry about this gap, but I have tons of papers due so I don't know when the next chapter will be posted. Hope you guys enjoy this!**

 **x**

 **las96**

* * *

 **Blaine's POV:**

I sat in my living room contemplating calling Phoebe. It had been four days since we kissed and I did not know what to do. I was not stupid enough to think that she would end her engagement with Damien, no matter how much I wanted her to. Even all this time, Phoebe still had this power over me. After she left Abby's party, I stayed on the roof for a lot longer than five minutes. I was trying to process what happened or what would have happened if my father hadn't come looking for me. Elizabeth came out to check on me, thinking that I was still upset over the argument with my father. I was so sure that she could smell the guilt on me, but she said nothing.

"So are you going to tell me what's got you all spacey?" Heather sat down in the couch across from me.

Caden was taking a nap and we were both catching up on school work. We were around each other enough to know what each other was feeling.

"I'm going to tell you something, but you have to swear that you won't say anything."

"Sounds juicy," Heather leaned in, "My lips are sealed."

Heather did not have that many friends, so there wasn't really anyone she could tell.

"I kissed Phoebe at Abby's party," I finally admitted, "And I want to do it again."

Heather's eyebrows rose, "You're joking right? Blaine, please tell me you're joking. This girl must have the world's best vagina or something because guys can't think when they're with her. How could you kiss Phoebe when Elizabeth was downstairs waiting for you?"

"I didn't plan for something like this to happen, it just did. Now I have no idea what to do!"

"You aren't going to tell anyone else, that's what you're going to do. Her fiancé is your boss, your boss will more than likely fire you if you lose that contract for him, and her parents hate you for breaking her heart. Do I need to continue on listing reasons why you shouldn't let anything else happen?"

Heather was right, "So I have to pretend that nothing happened?"

"I was all for you two getting back together because I know how happy she makes you, but you need to move on. Elizabeth really cares about you and she would be crushed if she found out that you kissed Phoebe."

My father's words repeated in my head, I needed to stop thinking with my dick for once. While my dick ached for Phoebe, my brain knew that we would never be together again. We were toxic to one another. We were the past and Elizabeth needed to be my future.

"Okay, okay," I sighed, "It was a mistake that I can't let happen again."

"You need to allow yourself to move on."

"I heard you the first time," I grumbled.

Heather shook her head, "Obviously not or you wouldn't fuck up the first normal relationship you've had since you broke up with Phoebe."

Heather's lecture was interrupted by my phone ringing. The number wasn't saved in my phone so I almost ignored it. Frowning, I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Blaine, it's Damien."

Phoebe told Damien and now he was going to threaten me, again. I looked at Heather who was watching me just as confused as I was.

"Hey, what's up?" I tried to keep my voice neutral.

"I'm sure you heard about our housewarming party and I know that it would mean a lot to Phoebe if you were there."

Abby and Meredith had told me about their party, I never thought that I would be invited.

"How did you get my number?"

"We're partners now, remember?"

There was no escaping him.

"Look, I appreciate the call, I just don't think I should be there. I know you're doing this for Phoebe and I'm sure she'll like that we're talking, but it's a little weird."

"Just think about it, okay? I know you and Phoebe are trying to be friends and as a friend, she'd want you there."

It was clear that Phoebe hadn't told him what happened or he wouldn't want me anywhere near her. This would give me the chance to talk to her about the kiss in person though. I wanted to see her again. To touch her again. To kiss her again.

"Alright, I'll be there."

"Great, I'll send you the address."

Heather's mouth dropped, but I glared at her.

"Perfect, see you then."

She shook her head as I hung up with Damien, "You clearly haven't been listening to a word that I've been saying. In what world would it be okay for you to go to the housewarming party of your ex-fiancée and her new fiancé?"

"It'll be okay, you're going with me. If I have you there then I won't be tempted to be alone with Phoebe."

"No I'm not," Heather scoffed, "I don't want any part of this. I like Elizabeth!"

"I need you there."

"Why don't you bring your girlfriend?" she challenged.

"Maybe I will."

 **Phoebe's POV:**

"I've been looking all over for you," Damien entered the room.

I knew he had, that's exactly why I was hiding in the photography studio; somewhere I thought he wouldn't come. Damien had texted me this morning saying that he had landed early and instead of being happy, I wanted to throw up. I wasn't going to tell him what happened between me and Blaine, it would only cause an argument. I just couldn't live with this guilt.

"Sorry, I've been working on the next publication."

Damien's presence caused the other people in the room to scatter. He was their boss and any visit from him was usually a bad thing.

"I've missed you," Damien kissed me, "Let's go get lunch."

"I really wish I could, but I need to get these photos done."

He frowned, "Isn't that why you have a team?"

"Yes and teams work together," I said, "It's almost done, I can meet you in about two hours."

I already knew his schedule was booked for the rest of the day.

"I have a meeting across town," he sighed, "I just really wanted to see you before I left."

"I'll see you at home," I kissed his cheek, "I'm sorry, but we have to get this done before tonight."

"Alright, love you," Damien kissed me full on.

"Love you too," I smiled then returned to the photos in front of me.

Oliver came downstairs to the photography studio wheeling in a cart of takeout. I had ordered dinner for everyone to thank them for staying late. It was also an apology for using them to avoid going home and being with Damien. They all hungrily grabbed their orders

"I'm not used to seeing you here this late," Oliver sat down on the couch in front of me.

"This issue has a lot of photographs and I want to make sure that they're perfect," I tried to stay focus.

I could feel Oliver watching me, but I refused to look up. He was my best friend and would keep whatever I tell him in quiet, I also knew that he felt extreme loyal to the Zano family. Damien was Oliver's surrogate brother and I didn't want him to feel like he had to choose sides.

"Is Darcy flying out for your housewarming party?"

I had already asked Darcy to come after I told her what happened between me and Blaine. She was of course the first person that I told and she didn't even try to mask her excitement. Darcy and Charlie were flying out with my parents to look at houses now that they were subletting their apartment.

"Yep, she and Charlie are flying in with my parents," I told Oliver, "I'm sorry, but I need this done by tonight. I'll talk to you later."

Oliver looked hurt, I never dismissed him, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

Ignoring the added guilt of pushing Oliver away was hard.

Damien was working on his laptop in bed when I finally made it home.

"You're home late," Damien said with his eyes concentrated on his screen.

"Yeah, but this is going to be a great issue," I took off my shoes, "I'm going to go shower."

Damien nodded, his focus still on the screen. I stripped away my work clothes in the bathroom and turned on the shower. Before stepping into the hot water, I ran to the toilet to pee. I thanked Mother Nature for the first time in my life when blood fell into the toilet bowl. Having my period meant no sex and no sex was what I needed right now.

After my shower, I climbed into bed with Damien. He was still focusing on his laptop, but stopped to kiss my forehead.

"When are your parents coming in?" Damien asked.

"They're flying in on Thursday with Darce and Charlie. My parents are staying at a hotel, but Darce and Charlie are staying here," I explained, "They're all leaving on Monday."

"How many people are coming over?"

"Its close family and friends only so no more than thirty or forty."

Damien nodded, "Does close friends include Blaine?"

"No."

"I think you should invite him."

"What?"

I swear Damien could see the guilt on my face.

"Wouldn't it be weird if we invite the rest of his family and not him?"

"I appreciate it babe, but it's really okay if you don't want Blaine to come. He probably wouldn't want to come anyways."

"Not true, he said yes when I invited him."

Now I really wanted to throw up, "What?"

"I wanted to show you how okay I was with your friendship and I wanted to surprise you. From the look on your face I fucked up," Damien frowned.

"No, I'm just surprised," I lied, "I'm really happy that you did."

"I thought about it when I was in London and it reminded me of how happy we were when we were living there. We rarely argued and it was great, so why can't we be like that in New York?"

I didn't deserve Damien, I really didn't. Staring at his hopeful expression made me feel even worse.

"We are happy," I held his hand, "You make me happy."

"You make me happy too," Damien closed his laptop and placed it on his bedside table, "And I thought about what you said about wanting a baby and I think that we should do it."

"You thought a lot while you were in London, didn't you?" I teased.

"It cleared my head and made me realize what I have in front of me," his expression became serious, "I want to have hundreds of babies with you."

"Hundreds?" I finally laughed, "How about two, maybe three."

"Sounds perfect to me," he kissed me, "I love you Phoebe Grey."

"I love you Damien Zano."

"You make me want to settle down and I want to start planning the wedding."

This change in Damien made me pause, "Why the sudden rush?"

"I saw this family in London and I kept watching them laugh and smile. You know how my father is with me and I never had that strong bond with him, but watching this father with his kids made me want to be a better father than my father was to me. I think that's why I was so scared to have kids because I don't want to be like my father."

"You're going to be a great father," I said it because it was the truth, "So we're going to have a baby?"

"We're going to have a baby," Damien brought me on top of him.

"Not tonight, I'm on my period, but soon."

He nodded, "Soon."


	22. Chapter 21

**Blaine's POV:**

"I can't believe you're doing this," Heather balanced Caden on her hip, "There are a million and five ways that this could go wrong."

"It's a housewarming party, what could go wrong?" I fixed my tie in the mirror.

Tonight was Phoebe and Damien's housewarming party and I was nervous to see Phoebe. Heather refused to go with me and I didn't want to bring Elizabeth into this. I needed answers to what happened, I couldn't be the only one confused about the kiss. Plus Charlie was in town and I wanted to see him. He had called me to tell me that Darcy was pregnant and they were looking for apartments in New York. I didn't know that a baby could grow in a hostile environment –kidding – I was happy for my best friend. Charlie wanted me to set up an interview with my boss to see if he could get a job in the company when they moved to New York.

"How does Elizabeth feel about you going to your ex-fiancée's housewarming party?"

"I didn't tell her about the party."

It was shitty of me, I knew it, I just needed to find out the truth before giving up on my relationship with Elizabeth. She was a nice girl who would make any guy happy.

"Your daddy is an idiot," Heather wiggled her fingers at Caden.

I frowned, "He's beginning to repeat whatever he hears and idiot doesn't need to be in his vocabulary."

"It does when it comes to describing you."

I was late and not in the mood to argue with Heather again about tonight. I kissed Caden on the cheek, then stepped around Heather to grab my phone and keys.

"See you later."

My taxi pulled up to the curb in West Chelsea and my nerves flew. What if she didn't want me here? I could walk in and Phoebe could tell me that everything was a mistake. There was only so much heartbreak a guy could take.

"Are you getting out?" The taxi driver glared at me from the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, sorry," I slid my card to pay, "Thanks."

Security checked the guest list to make sure that my name was on it before pointing me towards the elevator. I stepped on with a few other people who either lived in the building or were on their way to the party as well. Their apartment was the penthouse and it was everything that I expected it to be. It was more luxurious than the apartment the two of us wanted, that was a given, this place was gorgeous. I tried not to salivate at the state of the art security system that wasn't supposed to be released until next year.

Phoebe was surrounded by people that I didn't know, but her eyes lit up when she saw me. She excused herself from her entourage and made her way towards me. Batman raced by her and began jumping at my feet.

"Hey buddy," I picked Batman up.

He began licking me all over my face, a surprise because he and I didn't end on the best of terms. Caden had begun to ask for pets and I wanted a dog, but Heather didn't want to be the one stuck with taking care of him.

"Robin is going to be happy to see you too," Phoebe stepped in front of me.

"He probably doesn't even remember me."

"He does," Phoebe smiled, "Batman just remembers you more. I think Batman purposely pees in Damien's shoes because he feels loyal to you."

I knew it was a good decision to buy him, "I was hoping that we could talk."

She looked around the room, "Do you want a tour of the apartment?"

"Sure."

I saw Damien across the room talking to Charlie. His back was turned to us, but Charlie and I made eye contact. He kept Damien engaged in their conversation as Phoebe led me up the stairs. There were photos of Damien and Phoebe everywhere along with their family and friends. It was weird seeing her with people that I didn't know anymore. Phoebe stopped at the top of the stairs to show me their entertainment room then led me to the bedrooms. As she showed me all of the bedrooms, all I could think about was throwing her onto the bed and taking her right now. The fact that she was wearing the tightest dress that I had ever seen wasn't helping me keep my thoughts platonic. Phoebe led me to the master suite's closet and I took everything in.

"It's really nice," I finally said.

"Thanks."

We stood in awkward silence for a moment.

"I was going to call. Am I crazy for wanting to be here?"

Phoebe shook her head, "I think it's better if we talk in person."

"Did you tell him?"

"I'm not stupid," she frowned, "You wouldn't be here if he knew."

"So why am I here?"

"That kiss shouldn't have happened. I'm engaged to Damien, we're getting married and he wants to have a baby now."

"So why am I here?" I repeated.

"Because I thought this is what I wanted. I really did, I wouldn't have said yes to marrying him if I thought that I still have feelings for you. Because I'm still in love with you. I don't know why, I really don't know why, but I am. Because I want you to tell me that the kiss meant something to you too."

Of course it did, it was nice to finally hear Phoebe admit that I wasn't the only one thinking about the kiss. I wanted to taste her again and from the look in her eyes, she wanted it too. I didn't want to waste any more time apart so I pulled her to me. Phoebe let out a sharp gasp and initiated the kiss this time. Her hands pushed me down onto the couch and straddled me. I watched amazed as she began undoing my shirt and tie. My hands found their way up her dress and I watched as Phoebe's eyes rolled to the back of her head as I fingered her. Phoebe grinded on my erection and I almost exploded in my pants. It had been a long time since I had any stimulation down there that wasn't my own hand. I wanted her so badly that it hurt.

Downstairs I heard a glass drop, bringing me back to my senses. We couldn't do this, it wasn't right. It took all of my will power to stop Phoebe grinding on top of me. I was too caught up in my lust for Phoebe that I didn't realize the people that we would hurt if we went through with this.

"I can't do this," I shook my head.

Phoebe froze, "What?"

"You're with Damien. I don't like him, hate him in fact, but I don't want us to be together behind his back. I want to be able to tell everyone that we're together. I want to be able to walk outside with you and be able to kiss you in public. We're upstairs about to have sex in the apartment share with your fiancé. This isn't how I want us to be together."

"It's not that simple."

"I know it's not," I lifted Phoebe off of me, "I don't want secrets between us this time. I swear this time will be different, which is why I have to break up with Elizabeth and you have to leave Damien."

"I can't just leave him!"

"Can't or won't?" I challenged her.

This isn't what I wanted to hear. I wanted Phoebe to profess her undying love for me and for her to run downstairs and tell everyone that the wedding was off. We stared at each other, breathing heavily. Just moments ago we were so in sync, but all I felt right now was distance.

"They're going to wonder where I am," Phoebe whispered.

"So let them."

"I can't ditch my own party," she said, "You have to leave first and then I'll come down."

"That's it?"

Phoebe's eyes did their best to look apologetic, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"That you're going to leave Damien. If you were so in love with him, then you wouldn't be up her with me. I feel like I'm the only one fighting for us and while you get the best of both worlds, I get nothing. I can't date anyone without comparing her to you. I can't get you off of my mind. I thought that you moving back here would be better for us. I love you Phoebe, I fucking love you!"

"I love you too," she whispered.

"Then leave him," I begged, "Be with me."

"What if we get together and it's like last time? I can't have my heartbroken by you again."

I held her hand, "I'm going to do everything in my power to never break your heart again, I swear to you."

"I'm scared," Phoebe to cry, "I'm so scared to let you in again."

She had every right and seeing how bad I broke her made me want to stab myself. I was going to do right by her this time, I swore to myself.

"I'll protect you."

"Okay."

Her voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear her. Phoebe looked up at me through watery eyes and she never looked more beautiful.

"Okay?"

Phoebe giggled, "Okay, I'll tell Damien that I want to end the engagement."

I picked Phoebe up and twirled her in my arms, she was going to be mine again. I didn't feel any sense of regret kissing her this time. I wanted to claim her in the closet, make her mine again.

"Tonight?" I broke away from her.

"After the party."

Everyone was wrong, we were meant to be together.

"I really have to get back," Phoebe leaned into my chest, "I just don't want to."

"I can't go back down with a raging boner," I rubbed myself against her.

"Patience," she kissed me.

Patience was all I had.

"I'll go down first," I kissed her one last time, savoring the moment.

I stepped out of the closet and made sure that no one else was in the room. I took one last look at myself then walked down stairs. Breathing, I stepped away from the last step and rejoined the party. Damien had moved on from Charlie and was talking to Teddy and Mr. Grey. I found Abby and my father standing together near a bar table. Abby may be social, but my father wasn't. He looked out of his element and very uncomfortable as Abby talked with one of the other guests.

"I didn't see you come in," Abby kissed my cheek as I approached, "Don't you love this place?"

I nodded, "It's really a great."

Whoever Abby was talking to before walked over resumed their conversation leaving me to deal with my father. My father and I haven't talked since the rooftop and from the look in his eyes, he had something to say. Luckily, I was saved by Charlie and Darcy walking over to us. I gave my best friend a hug and looked at Darcy.

"I hear the devil is getting a playmate."

She glared at me, "You were never funny."

"I'm just teasing," I gave her a hug, "Congratulations. Caden is going to love having you guys here."

"I thought he would be here. Where's Heather?" Darcy surveyed the room.

"She decide to stay home with Caden, we didn't want him out too late. She wants us all to have dinner tomorrow night."

"Sounds great," Darcy gave me a tight smile, "Now if you'll excuse me, I haven't seen Phoebe in a while."

I could feel my father's eyes on me, making me feel self-conscious. Before leaving Phoebe's closet I made sure that my shirt was tucked and my hair was fixed. Just remembering her hands in my hair made me want to go and find her.

"I think I saw her with her dad."

Darcy gave me a strange look, then headed off to find Phoebe. I needed a drink to calm my nerves so I excused myself. I felt my father follow me and he cornered me before I got to the bar.

"Don't be stupid Blaine."

"She's leaving him for me," I told him.

"She told you that because I just listened to Mrs. Grey go on for ten minutes about wedding details."

"She's going to tell him tonight."

My father gave me a look of pity, "And what're you going to do when she changes her mind?"

"She won't, now if you'll excuse me, I need a drink," I said before I stepped around him.

From across the room, I found Damien staring at me.


	23. Chapter 22

**Phoebe's POV:**

The question, "was I ready to leave Damien?" repeated in my head as I walked back to the party.

"Where have you been?" Darcy attacked me the moment I came down the stairs.

"I was in the bathroom, why?"

I had waited ten minutes after Blaine left the closet before making my way back to the party. My decision to trust Blaine again was a hard one, yet I wanted to be with him again. I loved Damien, I really did, but he was no Blaine. Blaine, despite his faults, was the man I wanted and needed to be with. He got me in ways that Damien never was able to. Breaking it to Damien was going to be hard, especially after buying this apartment together and the wedding planning. Last night I had a dream about having a baby and instead of seeing Damien, it was Blaine by my side.

"Are you alright?" Darcy frowned, "You look flushed."

I would have to tell Darcy later, not here, "I'm fine."

"Your mom has been looking all over for you. She wants you and Damien to give a toast."

"I'll go find him," I excused myself.

Darcy, being my best friend, would be able to notice my guilt if I stayed around her too long. She would no doubt be happy that I was going back with Damien, so would my father. Their opinions weren't what mattered, I wanted to be with Blaine because I loved him and always will.

My mother and father were standing with Damien in the living room. I found myself looking for Blaine, but he was nowhere to be found.

"I've been looking for you," Damien kissed my cheek, "Ready to give the speech?"

"We need to talk," I tried to stop Damien from entering the living room with everyone else.

"After the speech," he dragged me, "We've been looking for you for forever."

I wasn't in the mood to give a speech. I needed to tell Damien the truth or else I would back out.

"This can't wait."

Damien looked at me, "Is everything alright?"

"No, that's what I'm trying to tell you!"

My mother made her way over to where we were standing, "Guests are waiting for your toasts, you shouldn't keep them waiting."

"It'll take five minutes," I began to feel sick.

"You're turning green, maybe you should sit down," my mother guided me to the couch.

"You can sit while I give the speech," Damien suggested.

He tapped his champagne flute with his knife to gain everyone's attention. All eyes focused on him, meanwhile I continued to look for Blaine. I didn't want him to think that this changed anything, I was still going to end my engagement.

"I just want to thank you all for being here, it truly means a lot to have our closest friends and family on the same coast for once. This place is finally beginning to feel like home. I have my beautiful fiancé here," Damien paused to hold my hand, "And I can't wait until we fill our home with new memories with all of you."

People began to politely clap and I knew it was my turn to say something. I stood on shaky legs, using Damien's arm as support.

"I, uhm," I cleared my throat, "I wanted to thank you all for being here."

I paused as I watched Blaine leave. This was obviously too much for him to watch, but it would all be over soon. I wanted to stop in the middle of the speech and walk out with him. I silently pleaded with him to turn around and when he finally did, our eye contact reminded me how much I loved him and how badly I wanted to stay.

"I love you," I paused, "All, I love you all for taking the time to celebrate a new chapter in our life. Many of you have been with us since the beginning and I'm glad that all of the people who are the most important to me are here. London just wasn't the same without our family and friends. I missed all of you every day while were gone and if I believe that it was divine intervention that brought us back here. So thank you again for coming and just know that we love you for being here."

When Damien kissed my cheek, I could see Blaine's expression crumble.

"We need to talk," I said to Damien.

He frowned, "About what?"

I could hear glass shatter to the ground and people run to the next room.

"Call 9-1-1!" my father shouted as Mr. Zano fell to the ground.

A small crowd surrounded Mr. Zano as he clutched his chest. Damien fell by his father's side and began compressions.

"Stay with me dad," Damien continued compressions.

I had a flashback to when I received the call that my own father had his heart attack. I don't think that I would have been able to jump into action as well as Damien was doing. His relationship with his father had always been strained, but in that I moment I could tell that Damien was putting all of his effort into saving his father.

It felt like forever before the paramedics came and rushed Mr. Zano to the hospital.

"You should ride with your father, I'll meet you there with everyone else," I told Damien.

Damien kissed my forehead and followed the paramedics into the ambulance.

 **Damien's POV:**

"He's in recovery so you should be able to see him in a couple of hours."

Phoebe squeezed my hand and I was happy to have her by my side.

"Thank you doctor," I shook his hand.

The doctor left to give the rest of us time to grasp the news. My father and I might argue constantly, but he was still my father. I put everything I had into those compressions, I didn't want him to die, I still needed him.

"I can go back to his apartment and pick up some of his things," Phoebe said.

I didn't want her to go anywhere, I needed her by my side, "Please stay."

"Of course," she nodded.

My newest stepmother, Chelsea, stood up from her chair, "I'll go grab his things from the apartment."

He wouldn't even notice if she was by his bedside or not, so I just nodded. A nurse came into the waiting room and led us to my father. From outside his room, I could see all of the wires connected to him. I didn't realize that my grip on Phoebe's hand was digging into her skin until she began to flinch.

"We don't want to overwhelm him so one at a time," the nurse said.

"I'll be out here if you need anything," Phoebe kissed my cheek.

I had made sure that my father had a private room to recover in while he was in surgery. Knowing him, he would make any roommate miserable. I sat beside my father's bed, listening to the heartbeat monitor. His expression the calmest that I had ever seen him. My father's eyes slowly began to open.

"Do you know where you are?" I asked him.

"You need to marry Phoebe before it's too late."

"You just had a heart attack, the last thing that should be on your mind is my love life."

My father sat up, "I left the party to take a phone call and I stepped into the security room. I saw her and Blaine in your closet."

"You're lying," I frowned, "She wouldn't be with him."

"She's going to leave you for Blaine. Now is your chance to prove that you are a better choice for her."

"I don't have to prove anything, I'm her fiancé!"

That brief moment of worrying if my father was going to be a changed man or not vanished.

"You need to listen to me," my father leaned in, "Remember that contingency plan that I made? You need to call the lawyers when you get home to make sure everything is settled."

My father had finally lost it, "Get some rest dad, I'll come by tomorrow."

Phoebe was waiting for me in the waiting room. I watched her from the glass window, considering what my father said. He loved Phoebe, definitely more than he loved me, but why would he make something up like that? Phoebe looked up from her phone to catch me staring and frowned.

"Did something happen with your father?" she met me in the hallway.

"No, he's resting. I told him that we would come back tomorrow to see him."

Phoebe nodded, "Of course. This has been a long day for you, let's go home."

I kept myself distracted with work emails on the drive home. I couldn't even look at Phoebe, let alone sit next to her. If my father was right, I knew what he was telling me to do. If my father was wrong, it would only ruin any chance of a future with Phoebe.

Our driver pulled up to the curb of our apartment, I wasn't ready to go inside and deal with everything.

"I'm going to go to the office."

"Damien, your father just had a heart attack," Phoebe held my hand, "Let's go inside."

"I just really need to be alone right now."

Her expression became even more worried, "Is everything all right?"

I wanted to yell at her, of course nothing was alright.

"Of course," I lied, "I'll be back soon."

"I can go with you to the office."

"Your parents are waiting for you inside. I'll go pick a couple of things up at the office and come back."

She nodded, "Okay."

I wanted to call Phoebe back into the car immediately after she left, but I didn't. Instead, I gave our driver directions to my lawyer's office. My heart was racing, searching for answers to make sense of all of this.

"We're here."

Nodding, I opened the car door, "I'll be a couple of minutes. Don't go anywhere."

Dominic Ramos had been by my side through everything, he was a lawyer and a friend. He was the only one I could trust with creating the plan without fearing that it would be leaked.

"Mr. Zano, I just heard about your father," Dominic stood up from behind his desk, "How is he doing?"

"He'll pull through," I sat down, "But he wants us to initiate the contingency plan."

Dominic's eyebrows rose, "What?"

"I don't know if this is his stroke talking or what, but he's adamant about it."

"Mr. Zano, when you originally asked me to create the plan, I thought it was a joke. You can't be serious; Phoebe would never forgive you."

"My relationship is none of your concern Dominic, I don't pay you for relationship advice, I pay you for legal advice."

He shook his head, "I'll get started tonight."

"Thank you."


	24. Chapter 23

**Phoebe's POV:**

Darcy was the first person that I wanted to see when I walked into the apartment. I wanted to finally come clean to her about what happened between me and Blaine. She had stayed back with Charlie while the rest of us rushed to the hospital with Damien's father. The cleanup crew had finished putting everything back, leaving me with nothing to take care of.

"What happened?"

"He's stable for now, Damien was able to see him," I explained, "Damien went to the office to get some of his father's work I guess."

Darcy frowned, "His father just had a heart attack and he went to work?"

"People deal with grief differently."

"Yes, but –," Darcy began.

"Please just leave it alone, I'm exhausted and need to go to sleep."

"You don't even know exhausted until you're pregnant," she groaned, "All I want to do lately is lay in bed and eat. Just getting dressed in the morning makes me want to give up and put on sweatpants. Not to mention the fact that sweatpants are all that make me forget how ugly I feel."

"Charlie doesn't seem to mind."

Darcy laughed, "The only thing he cares about right now is sex. He thinks that the more sex that we have, the better our chances are of having twins. In his head, we're having two boys just like him. Could you imagine two red-haired demons running around?"

Charlie came into the room, "My mother said I was the perfect child."

"Of course she did," Darcy rolled her eyes, "You were God's gift to the world and can do no wrong."

"Go upstairs, you're getting cranky," I told her, "Plus we have a long day of apartment hunting tomorrow."

For once, there was no argument on her part.

"I'll be up in a minute," Charlie kissed her forehead.

Charlie waited until Darcy left the room to begin talking, "So Blaine told me what happened."

I stared at Charlie, "What was there to tell?"

"The kiss, you and him finally being together, am I forgetting anything else?"

"Are you really going to leave Damien?"

"I don't know."

"He's my best friend and I'll be the first to admit that he's fucked up a lot with you, but he wouldn't be able to take it if you were just stringing him along. Blaine loves you more than anything and he's going to mess up again, we both know that, I just need to know that you aren't going to leave him again if he does."

"I don't know what our future holds, I just know that I want to be with him. He's changed, I can see it whenever he's with Caden."

"Are you ready to be in Caden's life even though Heather is in it too?"

I wasn't dumb enough to think that I would never have to see Heather if I got back together with Blaine. Heather was an important part of his and Caden's life and nothing would change that.

"I talked to her at your wedding, I don't hate her anymore. I spent too much energy hating her for something that wasn't her fault. She didn't ask to have Blaine's baby and if I hate her that means that I hate Caden. How could I hate someone who brings Blaine so much happiness? I see the way Blaine looks at Caden and I get it now how he couldn't just leave Heather when she gave him the greatest gift."

"Now that I'm getting ready to be a father, I understand now why Blaine didn't just give up on Heather either. I was worried at first that he was ruining his life, but it's more about Caden than it is about Heather. You know his dad, Blaine is trying his damn hardest to make sure that he is never that way with Caden and that meant losing you. You are the love of his life and always will be."

Everything Charlie was saying was true. Whatever Blaine and I had would never go away and to think that being with someone other than Blaine was going to make me just as happy didn't even make sense anymore. We argued, we drove each other crazy, and we knew each other's weaknesses, but that was what love was.

"You're a great friend Charlie and you're going to be a great father."

"I know," Charlie grinned, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go make love to my wife in your very comfortable guest room."

"Thanks for the mental image, excuse me while I go gag."

Charlie laughed as he ran up the stairs to Darcy.

Around two o'clock in the morning, I could hear someone stumbling around in the bedroom. I turned the bedroom light on to see Damien trying to take off his tie. His eyes were glossed over as he tried to focus on his task. This was the first time that I have ever seen Damien drunk and I didn't like it. I was usually the one that needed to be taken care of. He was always in control of himself whenever we went out and only ever allowed himself one or two glasses of whatever everyone else was drinking.

"Get off the floor," I tried to lift him off the ground.

He was mumbling something underneath his breath that I couldn't understand. I tried to ignore the stench of Hennessey that seemed to ooze off of him and lead him to the bed. Damien was more than twice my weight, leading him was no easy feat. If it weren't so late in the night, I would have woken Charlie up to help me.

"I thought you were going to the office," I continued to drag him.

"So did I," Damien slurred, "Somehow I ended up at a bar."

"Did something happen with your father?"

"Besides his heart attack?" Damien laughed, "Not that I know of."

"Then why did you decide to get drunk? It's not like you."

Damien's eyes became focused, "Do you still love me?"

"What?"

It was a simple question that I didn't know the answer to anymore. I loved Damien, but I was in love with Blaine.

"Get some sleep."

The next morning while Damien was still sleeping, I showered and got ready for apartment hunting with Darcy. I moved quietly so that I didn't wake him, I wasn't prepared to talk about last night. Damien's snoring was the only indicator that he didn't drink himself to death last night. I walked downstairs to find Darcy and Charlie in the kitchen making googly eyes at each other from across the kitchen island.

"Morning love birds," I sat down next to Darcy.

Charlie brought a pan from the stove full of eggs and placed it in front of me, "Morning."

"Do I get bacon too?" I teased.

He opened the oven door, "How do you like your bacon?"

"I wish Damien or I knew how to cook. We'd save a lot of money not ordering takeout every night."

"I got one of the good ones. I told your dad's realtor that we'd meet her around noon in Queens and your mom wants us to meet her for a late lunch with Gwen at three."

"Seems like you girls have a busy day ahead of you. I'm going to Blaine's," Charlie kissed Darcy, "I'll see you two later."

"Aren't you going to help pick out your future apartment?"

Charlie scoffed, "Like my opinion really matters. I told Darcy that whatever she chooses I'll love."

"He's so smart," Darcy kissed him again, "He makes me want to marry him all over again."

"See you two later."

I was getting off the phone call with O'Keefe to come pick us up at the apartment when Damien came down the stairs in his workout gear. Darcy had gone upstairs to grab her purse so that we could meet O'Keefe outside.

"You're going to the gym?" I asked him.

"I always go on Thursday mornings," he kissed my cheek, "What're you and Darcy doing today?"

I watched him, amazed that he seemed completely unfazed about what happened with his father last night.

"We're going apartment hunting. Aren't you going to visit your dad in the hospital?"

Damien opened the refrigerator, "I talked with him this morning. He wants me to go to his meetings for today and fill him in later tonight."

"He doesn't need work talk, he needs to relax."

Damien shrugged, "Work is what relaxes him. I've gotta go before I'm late. I'll see you later."

He kissed me goodbye then walked out the door. Darcy came down the stairs as soon as the door shut with her purse and cell phone.

"Ready?"

I nodded and we headed out to meet O'Keefe. We were waiting for the elevator to come when Darcy broke the news that Charlie told her about me and Blaine kissing.

"You two talked about me instead of having sex?"

She rolled her eyes, "We talked about you after having sex."

"Why did I come up after sex?"

"That is so not the point. The point is that you kissed Blaine and didn't tell me! How could you tell Charlie and not me?"

"I was going to," I promised, "Charlie was the one who brought it up first after you went upstairs last night."

"Are you really going to leave Damien?"

I knew that Darcy wasn't the biggest fan of Damien, but she didn't like Blaine either.

"Since when were you Team Blaine?"

"I'm Team Phoebe and I know that you love Blaine and Blaine loves you. I want you to be happy and if that's with Blaine or Damien or anyone else, I'm all for it."

O'Keefe pulled up to the curb, ending our conversation about my love life.


End file.
